Making Our Own Way
by starkat1978
Summary: For better or worse, for richer or for poor. Those are the vows Bella and Edward take. In 2008 the recession hits their family and Bella becomes the primary bread earner in their family when Edward loses his job. Follow their journey as they learn to deal with the changes in their life and Bella's completely psychotic boss.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight related…warning suicide behavior has been mentioned…_

**Prologue…**

My husband Edward and I walked my in-laws to the door. It was late and they had been babysitting our 2-year-old twins for us. Edward and I had just returned home from having a dinner to celebrate his new job at CUNY. He had been out of work for nearly 2 years, having lost his job at Lehman Brothers when the recession hit. I had been briefly unemployed and we were finally enjoying a dual income again. We still had a long way to go before we were comfortable financially but I was feeling relief for the first time in months.

Edward shut our front door and looked me, I mean really looked at me for what seemed like the first time in months. He walked over and kissed me. I recognized the kiss; it was not a perfunctory time that husbands gave their wives but rather a first date type of kiss. The kind a guy gives a woman when he really wants to impress her with his skills.

"How about you go upstairs and check on Melody and Geoff while I get one of those bottles of wine we have from our wedding," he said resting his forehead on mine. We bought an obscene amount of wine for our wedding and would probably be drinking until we hit our golden anniversary.

I nodded thinking about some of the lingerie I had yet to wear from my bridal shower and zoned on a piece I thought would help enhance this occasion. I turned start going upstairs when the phone started ring. Both Edward and I looked at the clock on the microwave. It was nearly 11, too late for anyone to be calling unless it was emergency. Edward frowned, thinking the same thing and picked up the phone. "Hello", he asked tentatively, "Cullen residence".

Fear went through me – my father, my mother, my sister, the possibilities were not good. "Yes, hi Rose, she is right here. Is there anything I could help you with, it's pretty late," he asked her, "Ok."

"Bella, it s Rose. She's its important. She's pretty insistence that she talk to you," he said passing me the phone rolling his eyes.

Rose was a former colleague of my from my previous job with Dr. Jessica Stanley. I could tell that Edward was thinking the same thing as me. Since I had been fired I had been contacted no less then 20 times about "unfinished business" which was Jessica code for lets milk as much free work as possible and I will get you that reference you I promised.

It had gotten to the point that Edward actually yelled at the assigned minion two weeks ago having had enough of the calls during all hours of the day and night. Through this was surprising, usually Lauren was the one that made the calls. And Rose couldn't stand Jessica anymore then me and had given her notice several weeks ago. I guess after Edward scared of the crap out Lauren, Jessica was rotating assistants now, using the ones I was friendly with.

"'l'll make it quick – I promise," I said taking the phone from him and kissing his cheek. I had no intention of staying on the phone longer then a minute, especially with two sound asleep children, a good bottle of wine and lingerie. "Hey Rose – make it quick, both Melody and Geoff are asleep and Edward and I are wide awake. There is the possibility o-".

I didn't get a chance to finish. "Bella, I am so sorry to bother you, its Angela." Rose said.

My heart skipped a beat. Angela Weber was another one of the assistants who worked for Jessica's project. She had become a little off in the last couple of months. We were all worried about her. Angela didn't have a thick skin and working for Jessica you needed one. We all had been keeping tabs on her, begging her to get counseling. She said she had.

"What's the matter Rose," I asked. I mouthed at Edward – Angela. He sat on the stairs next to me. He knew about Angela's problems and was concerned too.

"She had a breakdown," Rose said quietly, "Could you come over, we're at Mount Sinai." She then proceeded to fill me in briefly about what had happened.

"I'll be down as soon as possible," I said, getting up to grab my purse by the door, hoping I had enough for parking if I wasn't lucky enough to grab a spot on the street, "I am assuming you called her parents?" Angela's parents lived in Buffalo.

"Yeah – they are coming down on the first flight – the airport closed down due to rain," Rose answered.

I hung up the phone. "Angela tried to kill herself. I needed get down to the city," I explained to Edward.

He nodded and said, "Call me when you find out what is going on."

We kissed goodbye, the wine forgotten. Our townhouse is on Staten Island, the least known borough in the Manhattan area. To get to Manhattan by car you have 2 options, the first Verrazano Bridge, the second the Goethals. Sinai is on the east side of Manhattan so I hit the Verrazano and then the FDR. Pulling into street I headed for a parking garage that promised to take credit cards. The attendant grabbed my keys and handed me a ticket. Running the couple of blocks to Sinai's ER I found Rose and her boyfriend Emmett in the waiting room. She was in tears and he was trying to comfort her. Seeing me come through the ER doors, she ran and hugged me.

At 32 I was the oldest in this group. Rose was 2nd oldest at 26 and the rest of my "colleagues" were between the ages of 22-24. Looking around I saw Lauren, Neil, Max and Vanessa. I knew if Lauren was here it was bad. Taking Rose back to the seat, I asked "What happened?"

"Jessica really yelled at Angela today and called her incompetent," Lauren explained, looking down. She looked guilty, "she just took off".

"I see," I said coolly. Lauren was not my favorite person, a fact she knew stemmed from her desire to impress Jessica by spying on her colleagues. "Ok I understand why Angela left but why is she here?"

Rose started to cry harder. " I tried to get her…"

Emmett spoke up finally, "Rose left early to get her and convince her to come out with us. Angela refused. When we got home, we found her lying on the couch. She took a bunch of sleeping pills."

I nodded, hugging Rose closer, "Rose, sweetie, this isn't your fault. Don't blame yourself."

All the sudden Lauren starting wailing, "its my fault, I was complaining to Jessica that Angela never does her work on time."

The entire room looked at her, pushing Rose to Emmett, I went over Lauren. "Lauren stop. You have your faults but making people suicidal isn't one of them." I did not like Lauren and I was furious with her for a number of reasons but I knew this wasn't her fault. I sat with her until she calmed down.

Angela's parents came in an hour later looking exhausted and overwhelmed. We introduced ourselves to them after they spoke with the physicians. They thanked us for coming and insisted we go home. They promised to call if anything changed.

"Mrs. Weber, please let me know if there is anything I can do," I said, hugging her.

"You are Bella, right," Mrs. Weber asked me.

"Yes ma'am," I replied.

"Please call me Maggie," she said, "Angela always talks about you when you come home. She thinks very highly of you."

I smiled thinking of all the times, Rose, Angela and I had grabbed lunched together and vented.

"Bella, do you mind waiting a moment, the doctor is going to be out shortly and I know Angela wouldn't mind you and Rose being here," she said, motioning to Rose to stay.

"Of course," I said sitting back down in the plastic covered chair. I looked at the fabric of the chair. You learn a lot of useless trivia in the administrative side medical field, one bit being all furniture had to be fire retarded. As result almost all the furniture you see in the hospital looked the same. Eat your heart out Alex Trebak, I thought looking at my watch. It was 2:30 in the morning and I had been there for 2 hours now and no Jessica.

It was safe to assume she wouldn't make an appearance until morning. Jessica was all into her beauty sleep. I didn't want to push my luck so I kept willing the doctor to come out. No such luck, the doctor arrived at 6:00 to tell us that Angela was resting comfortably after having her stomach pumped. They were going to transfer to the psych ward until Sunday and she would be discharged. However the doctor was worried about Angela and felt she needed 24 hour care.

The Webers went back to talk to their daughter. Rose and I looked at each other. There was no way that Rose could stay with Angela every minute of the day. "I think she going to have to go home Rose," I said softly.

Rose nodded sadly at the prospect of losing her roommate and best friend. The Webers walked back about 30 minutes later and confirmed what I said. They were going to pack up her daughter over the weekend and take her home Monday. She was almost catatonic.

"Rose, we'll help you with the rent until you find a new roommate," Mr. Weber told her.

"Thanks," she said relieved.

"Girls go home, you can see this evening or tomorrow morning. If you don't mind me saying you look like hell," Maggie told us with her daughter's smirk. We nodded and hugged her.

"Maggie, if you need help let me know, ok" I said.

"Will do dear, now really go home," she said.

Rose, Emmett and I turned to leave. "Do you need a ride," I asked, getting my keys out of my purse.

"No, we're just going to catch a cab, my place is 2 blocks from here," Emmett said.

Looking at the two of them I didn't think Rose would be staying at her place for longer.

"Oh shit," Rose muttered, looked to my right.

"What," I said looking up to see a halo of frizzy bleached blond hair coming our way. Jessica stopped to see us, looking a little apprehensive.

"How is Angela," she asked a timidly. Her voice reminded me of a little girl at that moment. Jessica had a wide variety of voices. Her cutesy voice when she wanted something and wanted to get your good side, her bitch voice when she was pissed or wanted something immediately and one of my personal favorites - I am a benevolent dictator.

"You can speak with her parents, they are down the hall," I said, amazed with how cold my voice sounded. I left and went down to the parking garage. I paid the attendant and got my Easy Pass ready. Due to the lack of traffic I was back on Staten Island 30 minutes later.

Edward was feeding the twins when I walked threw door. "How is Angela," he asked concerned.

"Not good," I signed lift Geoff out of his seat., "her parents are taking her back to Buffalo on Monday."

"Go lie, down, your mom is coming to help me with twins in a little bit," he told me taking the baby from me.

Grateful, I went to the couch knowing the kids won't let me leave the room until my mother came. My mom came over 20 minutes later and I went to lie down. I stayed down until 2:00. Feeling disoriented I walked down to find my husband reading the paper.

"I am really sorry about last night," I said.

"Don't be, excessive devotion and kindness is one of the reasons why I married you", he said pulling me down next to him. "Listen, I should have asked you but your mom is going to take Geoff and Melody for an overnight. Angela's mother called earlier and said she was going to take you up on your offer to pack and I thought I would help you."

"That's the reason why I married you, selfishness and a mind reader," I said snuggling in his chest.

"Also Jessica left a message when I was packing the twins up," Edward told me, "She wants you to call her back. I think you should just ignore it."

I nodded agreeing with him. The phone rang again at the moment. Signing, I leaned over to pick it up. The caller ID read unknown, thinking it might be a telemarketer I ignored it. It rang again a minute with the same unknown person. Really annoyed, I picked it up ready to tell the caller off.

"Yes," I said seething, frowning at Edward.

"Bella," I heard Jessica, she had to be calling from her cell. I was impressed, I didn't realize she had the technical knowledge to know how to block her number. She used to have me do that crap for her.

"Yes Jessica," I said rolling my eyes at my husband.

"Oh good, I caught you. Listen I need a favor from you," she asked me.

"And what might that be," I asked.

"Angela's parents are really angry at me." She started explaining.

"Okay…" I said wondering what this had to do with me. I couldn't really blame them. Jessica could infuriate the Pope when she really tried.

"So, I need you not to talk to them. I will make sure you get your letter of recommendation tomorrow." She told me.

Ah, I started putting the pieces of the puzzle together in my head. I guessed Mr. and Mrs. Weber probably knew about her project more then Angela let on and that Jessica probably said something stupid. They probably told her they were going to sue her and she should probably not talk to them.

"1st of all Jessica, I don't think this discussion is appropriate. You should probably be consulting a lawyer instead of trying to bribe me. Secondary, I have a new job and I don't need anything from you period." I told her about to say goodbye, the call leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

"That's right with Columbia University Hospital working in their healthcare IT project," Jessica said, her she-devil persona making an appearance. "I would hate to call my friends there…" she let the sentence trail off.

I sat there for a moment just staring at Edward. I could not believe the arrogance of this woman. My new boss knew all about Jessica. In fact I had gotten the job referral from my processor in Jessica's office. Every nasty thing she ever said, every belittling thing she made me do floated around in my head like a montage from Alice in Wonderland. Edward, who had heard every word of the conversation said, "Hang up Bella."

"You know what Jessica, go fuck yourself," I said, hitting the off button my phone my head starting to pound. The phone almost immediately rang again. Edward took it this time, I could heard the screaming on the other end, mainly "_How dare you…"_

"First of all I heard everything you just said if you think you are going to cause any trouble for my wife," Edward told her coldly, "Secondly I think she told you to fuck yourself so do not call back here again. Lose this number permanently because I am filing charges next time and I am sure you will have fun time explaining that on your next grant proposal." With that Edward hung up the phone. It became very quiet.

"I can't believe I just did that," I said shaking my head.

"Don't worry about it. There is nothing you can do about any of this Bella. You just did her a big favor. She could be hung for this in court." Edward wasn't kidding around. Having worked in the medical environment for over 10 years I was familiar with the ins and outs of malpractice. Edward liked to tease me that I should go back and get a law degree instead of an IT certification.

We left shortly after and went to Angela's apartment. Her mother confirmed what I guessed they were going to sue Jessica. "Its not the money, believe me we don't want it," Maggie said, "I don't want her to ever be in the position to hurt anyone again like she did with my daughter."

Edward nodded, "I get it, you should have seen the number she did on Bella," he said.

"Edward," I exclaimed, putting down my tape gun, this was nearly as bad as what Jessica did.

"Bella, it's the truth, you worked for that bitch for 9 months and you came home with a headache almost every single night," he reminded me.

I stayed quiet remembering my head pounding on the couch. Edward was right, for the 9 months I worked for Jessica I had a migraine every day. I could barely function at home except on Saturday. Every night I had an experience at the office that would follow me home, me the person who once got attacked by a drunk in the ER and then laughed about it with my friends over a beer. Saturdays were better because I didn't see or heard from Jessica at all except for the occasional email. Sunday nights, while preparing for Monday morning brought the familiar pounding of another migraine. I should have brought stock in Advil. The only silver lining to Edward being out of work was that he cared for the twins and the house. I was completely useless the rest of the time.

"Maggie, if you go after her, go hard, she is a Grade-A bitch. She will not hesitate to make Angela look like a simpleton," I told her and the reiterated the call I received.

"Don't worry honey, I can make a Nazi cry," Maggie said, patting my hand.

We all laughed, "Good," I said, because that is what she is a raving Nazi."

_Six months later…_

I got out at the subway station by the Lipstick building on 59th. The Lipstick building is also known as the Revlon Building by one of MSK's out patient pavilions. It looks like a tube of lipstick made out of red brick. It was where the deposition was taking place for the lawsuit Angela and her parents were pursuing. I walked in and checked in with the security guard. I then went to the attorneys' office suite and checked in with the receptionist. She informed me that I was the first one there and asked me if I would like anything. I had skipped breakfast that morning to make sure I caught the ferry on time. Edward and I were definitely doing better financially but we could only afford the one car while we paying off our debt. Since he was going to have the kids I was metroing up to the city. "Do you have any tea," I asked.

"Yes," she said starting to get up.

"No that's fine, if you tell me were its is I can get myself," I told the receptionist. Having done it enough for years I hated making others do it.

She looked at me gratefully but told me it wasn't in a common area. I nodded and took seat and grabbed my book from my purse. She came back in a few minutes with the tea and I just lost myself in my book until the others started to arrive.

By this point most of my former colleagues had moved on. Jessica had a completely new staff from the time I worked with her. Angela's parents had been busy in the preceding pulling this together. She had gotten better and the lawsuit was helping her get closure from this. She was back in school to get a degree in law. She was interested helping employees who had been harassed like we had. It was the best therapy for her, she had written in her emails. We all caught up with each other chatting about the new things in our life. When Jessica walked in.

It was almost comical. We all at one side of the room and she sat on the opposite end, looking away from us. Jessica knew we had all been called to testify against her, including Lauren who had quit shortly after Angela's suicide attempt. I thought back to late September when I got a call from her to see if my department was hiring. "I couldn't take it anymore Bella," Lauren said quietly, "After Angela got…sick, she called us all in to discuss about her defense. Then she kept making cracks about it. How Angela was always screwing up on something – why should suicide be any different."

The last months look like they hit Jessica pretty hard. Her normally immaculately colored blond hair had a definite streak of brown tainting the roots. She looked like she hadn't slept in a long time and put on about 15 pounds since I saw her last. I knew through the grapevine that a lot was riding on this case for her professionally.

The Webers were suing just enough to get make a ding on the malpractice insurance. They wanted enough make Jessica uninsurable. If she lost this there was good chance she would never be able to work as a research manager again. She would probably lose her grant if she lost. She had not been popular with the administration before this happened and her enemies were almost hoping that she would lose, almost.

We shortly moved into the deposition room. By some twist of fate I had been called first after Angela gave her deposition. The lawyers explained to me that this was not an actual court proceeding but I should consider myself under oath. I nodded to repeated after the court officer, placing my hand on the Bible. Afterwards I stole a glance at Jessica who was glaring at me. I knew why the Webers had me on the list first.

I had a filed a complaint after my termination for harassment. Jessica's administrative assistants were the revolving joke of the human resources department. My processor had lasted 6 months and was currently in California. The one before her lasted a year and was in Florida. There were more then enough witnesses to Jessica's abuse that Angela would never have to testify unless she wanted too. The Webers' bottom line was that they wanted Jessica fired and not able to take a supervisory role ever again. They could care less about the money. If the good people at MSK had realized that they could have avoided a lawsuit.

After being sworn in, the Weber's attorney started questioning me. "Ms Cullen, how do you know the defendant?"

"I was hired by her in September 2008 to work as her grants manager", I answered remember the August date I interviewed with her.

_**AN: So this is a little different then my last story, not as cloak and dagger. I got influenced to write this story based off some of my friends' experiences during the recession. Next update will be on Friday or Monday. I'm going to try and keep up with the posting schedule I maintained with A Long Journey.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight related. Lemon in this chapter – yup – you've been warned _

**Chapter 1: One fine summer's day…**

_August 2008_

I looked at the street signs to see where I was, the E. 60 and 3rd. A glance at my watch told me that I needed to move as I had an interview in 10 minutes at the MSK research building. Having worked at Memorial Sloan Kettering for 5 years I was familiar with the ins and outs of the institution. I had started as an administrative assistant and had moved up to executive assistant. During that time I had helped my physicians with a number of grants, learning the ins and outs of grant management.

However I had also hit a glass ceiling since having had my kids. Having been bypassed for 2 promotions my boss said there would be another opportunity. I realized on my 30th birthday that they were stringing me along so I started to quietly apply to other departments. The grants manager job was exactly what I had in mind. This was my 2nd interview, this time with the physician herself, a Dr. Jessica Stanley. Finally I made it to the research building and found the office.

Knocking on the door, I heard a hushed come in. I walked in a women in her early forties opened the door. She walked over and extended her hand, "Dr. Stanley," I asked shaking her hand.

"Yes, Bella," Dr. Stanley asked. I nodded, "Glad to meet you, please call me Jessica, let's go into my office."

I nodded and smiled, noticing another young woman in the corner, looking at me curiously. Jessica walked beside me, to block my view from her.

"That's Kara," Jessica explained, "She is my AA."

"Ah," I said nodding at her. I wasn't sure but I think I saw her shudder. "I'm assuming that you have already have one, but here is my CV." I said handing her a folder with my personal information.

She took it and commented me on my organization. This isn't so bad, I thought taking my surroundings. It was not dissimilar to my office. The furniture was standard MSK issue favoring the light honey colored scheme seen in the administrative areas. What I couldn't believe is the number of plants in the office. They were everywhere, there had to be at least 20 of them.

"So Bella, you have been at MSK for the last 6 years," Jessica asked me looking at my resume.

"Yes, I started with Michael Devlin as his AA," I explained.

Jessica squealed, "Really Dr. Michael Devlin" she asked excitedly.

"Yes I was his AA before he went on sabbatical," I explained.

"Oh he is one of oldest dearest friends from medical school," she told me. That worried me a little as Dr. Devlin had a reputation. In fact one of the promotions I had been passed over for had gone to a colleague of mind who hadn't made it a secret that she was "helping" him recover from his divorce.

"Small world", I commented. "And I was promoted to my current position 2 years ago."

"You have a master's degree?" she asked.

"Yes, I completed that 2 and half years ago from Hunter," I explained, "And I completed my bachelor's degree in Cal State San Diego."

"Really you are from California?' she squealed again, "Why did you ever leave?"

"Well, my parents relocated to New Jersey and I wanted to be near them" I explained.

She clucked her tongue at me. Ok, I thought that is definitely odd. "Well, Bella let me explain the job to you." Jessica said, "I need someone to manage the financial aspects of my grant. I have an R01".

I nodded eagerly remembering why I applied to begin with. Think promotion Bella, I chanted to myself.

"Yes I have experience with that at my current job. I have designed 6 different budgets and also distributed funds to the subcontracts," I explained going further in my skill set. Jessica nodded and gave me the visual cues I needed to think I was making a good impression.

"I also need someone to manage my calendar," Jessica added, I was finished describing my background.

Ok, that threw for me for a loop. "Doesn't your AA do that," I asked, a little concerned. Why would she need that if she already had a secretary? For a moment I had an uncanny feeling that she was looking for a secretary. I did not need to leave a job I was comfortable to take another one with a boss who frankly was strange. Weird bosses were one thing, I could live with that, but a weird boss and gaining nothing? As my husband would say: Hell No.

"My AA isn't comfortable doing that and frankly she is terrible with it. I just need someone to do it," Jessica said batting her eyes a little.

"I don't mean to overstep my boundaries but that is usually the AA's responsibility. May I ask why she is still on staff if she isn't fulfilling a basic duty?" I asked not wanting to be a situation where I did my job and half of some else. That's what I did right now with current boss Jodi, Dr. Devlin's love tool.

"I can't answer that," Jessica responded her face growing very cold. It was almost frightening. Shit – I must have offended her.

"My apologies," I replied, I could feel myself turning red. "The answer is yes I am comfortable with scheduling."

"Don't worry," Jessica said her face brightening up. Our interview went back and further for a few more minutes. She walked to the door, the AA had long since left.

I walked to the subway feeling disorientated from the experience. Good manners kicked in and I composed a thank you letter longhand on the train which I planned to type it up when I got home. The interview threw me for a loop so I just stuck with the standard politeness and well wishes. I wasn't that desperate and frankly the she freaked me out. I knew from previous job experiences that when you think something is off it mostly like is.

When I got off at my stop Edward was waiting for me by the turnstile to walk me home. "Hey baby, how did the interview go," he asked, kissing my cheek.

"Weird," I answered truthfully. "How was your day?"

"Equally weird but in a good way. I got a bonus check and a plead from my manager to spend it." He told me as we walked to our building.

That was the nice thing about having a husband on Wall Street. He got his bonuses like other people got library books. He was a contradiction he hated his job but loved the perks that came with it. In fact I had been one of those perks, his favorite he claimed. That was might be explained since we meet when he had been a guest lecturer when I was getting my MHA. I had to attend a general education finance class, it most boring requirement I which I never failed to remind him. In fact when he had lectured I was dangerously close to falling asleep, a combination of the subject matter and hour of the class.

_6 years ago…_

_I raced up Lexington Avenue aware how late I was going to be when I get the door. This finance class was killing me, both in time and subject matter. To top it off Jodi, the other AA in the office held me up by going out for an extended lunch. That bitch knew it was my day to leave early and she had to be on time._

_Hunter was coming into view so I increased my speed and ducked into the building. When I walked into the classroom they were introducing the speaker, an Edward something or other. The cursory glance I gave him told me that he was fairly good looking but had that whole Wall Street vibe. Clean cut with a swagger The Wall Street guys gave me the creeps as they reminded me of Dr. Devlin who was always on the make. We had a fair amount those guys who like to hit up our happy hour._

_My opinion didn't change as Mr. Cullen started to speak. His bio put in him as some sort of whiz kid from Wall Stree with an Ivy league education and while I was sure to people in his industry he was fascinating but he was boring me to tears. I grabbed my notebook and started to write the paper I had due this Friday in an effort to stay awake. Oddly enough his native New Yorker accent was soothing and putting me to sleep._

_Two hours and about 25 pinches I needed to give myself the seminar was dismissed. Thankfully I got up ready to start the 2-hour trip home to Staten Island. I had bought a townhouse there last spring and was renting out half the place to pay for it. So far it was working out pretty well but the commute was hell._

_As I got up, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around I gasped and saw it was Mr. Cullen in the flesh. Up close, I realized my vantage point didn't do him justice. He was absolutely gorgeous with his copper colored hair and green eyes. Smiling at me, he handed me something._

"_I thought you might want my notes since you were late getting in and were obviously not paying attention," Mr. Cullen said with a mega-watt grin. I wondered if this what he used at Lehman's._

"_I'm good thanks," I replied and gave him back the papers._

"_You don't want to fail do you," he replied, smiling with his perma-grin._

_I held up my micro recorder. "I'm good – I'm a secretary and transcription is 2__nd__ nature," I told him._

"_You have a Bachelor's," he asked surprised. I'm guessing he never saw Working Girl._

"_Yes," I replied, dryly, wondering if he read the syllabus and realized this was a Master's level class._

"_What the fuck are you doing working as a secretary if you got a Bachelor's," he asked._

"_Read the papers – we're in a recession and that was the only job I could get," I replied, "Not all of us go to the Ivy League and get a junior executive position out the gate."_

_He laughed. "You obviously read the bio," Mr. Cullen replied, "How about we grab some coffee and you can tell me about your goals."_

"_That's the worse pick up line I have ever heard and I have a two hour commute ahead me," I told him, grabbing my backpack. I was so out there I could see the tire marks._

"_Whoa – can I give you ride – make that a 30 minute commute for you," Mr. Cullen said coming up to me._

"_I live on Staten Island – I doubt you slum it down there," I replied._

"_You live in Staten Island? I didn't think those people actually came to the city," he said in shock._

"_You're batting a thousand – I'm out of here," I replied hitting the fresh night air._

"_Wait – you're weren't kidding – you have at least a 2 hour commute. Let me drive you to the Ferry. It's late," he said coming up out with me._

"_I'm good – I've been doing this for 2 years," I told him, entering the subway with my metro pass. I was pretty sure Mr. Wall Street didn't have a metro pass or exact change. What a jerk, I thought waiting for the train. Over the PDA the announcer called out a minor delay due to a police incidence. _

"_Good I thought I missed you," I heard a voice behind me a few minutes later._

_I gasped and elbowed the voice not thinking twice. "Umph," the voice said._

_Turning around I realized had elbowed Edward Cullen and his Brooks Brothers covered ass was on the filthy subway floor. _

_"I'm so sorry," I said bending him down to help me up._

"_Sorry enough go on a date," he asked when he got the air back into his body._

Edward stayed with me the entire ride including the ferry. He bought me coffee on the boat. We went on our first date the Friday afterwards. Here we were 5 years, 1 wedding and 2 kids later.

We lived on 93rd Street and 3rd Ave in the Upper East Side. The location was worth the amount of money we spent on rent it but we both needed to work maintain the expenses. As I found living with Edward, middle class in Manhattan was different then middle class say across the river where my sister lived with her husband. We had a rental property on Staten Island, the townhouse I had purchased during my single days.

Edward wanted to buy a new place in Manhattan. I was holding mainly due to expenses. If we stayed in Manhattan, the cost of an apartment was high enough but that didn't include the private school we would have to invest in for Geoff and Melody. Also with the price of gas and the real estate market being so erratic I wanted to wait. While our apartment was expensive and the size of a postal stamp, it had those 2 little words every New Yorker loved hear. Rent controlled. I made frequent pilgrimages to the Container Store or Ikea trying to get squeeze more into our space.

I had bought my townhouse in Staten Island for a steal and the location to the subway and ferry made it very attractive. The people renting it were stable and paid like a slot machine. It didn't make sense to sell at the moment, as property had really generated income. Edward and I had two different money philosophies he like to spend hence the dependence on his job and me I like to squirrel every cent under a rock. Blame the fact that my parents could be featured on a couponing program, I didn't care. My dad was a cop and my mother was a kindergarten teacher. Being civil servants didn't bring in millions of dollars like my father-in-law Carlisle who was a retired financial advisor and my mother-in-law Esme who was a socialite.

"30, 30, 40 plan," Edward asked looking me, anticipating what I was going to say about his bonus.

I nodded, 30% for fun, 30% for bills, 40% for savings, was the formula we had to come to agree over the years. When I first met Edward his personal finances were a mess, an irony given he was a financial analyst. After dating for several months, I sat him down and showed where his money was going. Needless to say he was shocked.

We walked into our building and relieved our babysitter Lisa. I bathed our twins while Edward cooked dinner. During the beginning of our relationship Edward and I had reached an agreement about cooking. He cooked and I watched. During my senior year in high school, my Spanish class final had been to cook a Latin food dish. Out of a class of 35 people I was the one who managed to nearly burn down the Home EC room. My teacher took pity on me and let me submit a 5 paper on Prop 187 instead in Spanish. However we all agreed Bella in the kitchen was a recipe for disaster. Edward agreed with this after I nearly burned down his kitchen in his old apartment and took over all cooking duties.

After I got the twins bathed and fed I put them down for the night. Edward had dinner ready and a glass of wine for the 2 of us. "So what about the interview weird?" he asked me, pulling out my seat. You had to love his chivalry my mother-in-law Esme had trained him well.

"Well for one thing the boss was a little hyper. She reminded me of the Energizer Bunny." I told him.

"What did she suggested that you keep going and going," Edward asked with a straight face.

"Haha no –she all but body slammed me from looking at her secretary," I told him.

"That is a little weird," Edward conceded, "What else?"

"I don't honestly it was just vibe I got from her," I took him, "She knows Devlin."

Edward grimaced at that one. He knew that Devlin had first hit on me when I started working while he was still married. In fact, I had to put up several knowing sneers from him when Edward and I first started dating. Edward had been on assignment in my area and used to take me out during my lunch hour. Those dates usually consisted of going to the hotdog vendors or grabbing a sandwich from the deli.

Edward would come up to my office and hang out for a few minutes while I set phones to voicemail. Every now and then Dr. Devlin would come up and look at me and Edward like we were having sex on my desk. It stopped finally after he started sleeping with Jodi, our office manager and I got engaged to Edward.

"Also the job they advertised is different than one she described. She is asked me if I would be ok with scheduling for her," I said.

"I thought this was for a grants manager job," Edward said, spearing ravioli with this fork, "that sounds secretarial Bella. You don't need to do that."

"Yeah I know, that is another weird part, she already has a secretary. She got really upset when I pointed that out. That is what is really bothering me about this I think that her AA is going to be fired. I don't need another secretarial job. I have one of those. There is no point in switching over for a completely lateral job." I replied.

"Then don't we're doing well. Hell you could quit if you want and do the stay at home thing," he said.

"You know how I feel about that," I said quietly. It was a discussion we had many times before. Edward and his family didn't make a secret that they rather I stay at home. However I was proponent that you never knew what could happen and two incomes were better than one. Edward learned to accept it. He knew I would never be a trophy wife. That was another thing that appealed to him, I was different then the other he had dated before me. I wanted to make my place in the world not marry into it.

"I know and I am sorry – just letting you know that you have options. But you shouldn't take this job because you are bored with your other one," he said taking my hand.

"Thanks sweetie, anyway this is all a moot point. I haven't been offered the job and I don't think she appreciated me calling me on her clerical issues," I said taking a sip of wine.

After dinner, I loaded the dishwasher and typed out my letter to Jessica. Edward checked it out and gave me his seal of approval. I was mildly dyslexic so it helped to have someone who was a double major in business and English around. Finishing it up, I sent it over and turned my attention to my husband who was playing with my strap on my pajama top.

"About time," Edward growled, nipping on my shoulder, "Put that fucking computer down."

"Hmm – you gonna distract," I purred turning to sit on his lap.

"Let me show what I can do," he told me pulling me close to him and his bare chest.

I was rewarded with a brush of his erection on my clit. Instant pleasure flooded me, making me tingle on all over. Edward pulled up on my tank top off me, exposing my chest.

"Perfect," he hiss, palming my breast with hand and my nipple with his mouth.

"Oh Edward," I moaned rubbing against him, "I love you." With that I kissed him back.

"Good – because I love you beyond reason," he told me kissing me back.

With that I pulled down his PJ bottoms and realized he was commando.

"You planned this," I said with a smirk, caressing his cock. Edward so hard – I was surprised he wasn't in pain.

"When you have two you gotta be prepared ," he replied positioning himself between my legs and entered me.

The intrusion shocked me even after all these years and two kids. "Move," I commanded wanted to feel Edward move in me. The anticipation was killing me.

"Hell yeah," he replied and started to move. We didn't have time to indulge in the sex we had prior to the twins but Edward was good at getting us there in a timely fashion.

"Edward," I panted, as I got closer.

"You feel so good – how do you always feel so good," he replied and then slammed into me one more time making me come. He shattered right after me.

"I feel better," I told him, we both came down, wearing dopey grins.

"Me too baby," he replied, "I love you."

I remember that night because of how beautiful it was, lying next to Edward. There touch of humidity in the air and I opened the windows to allow the air in. At that moment I felt that there was nothing that could touch us.

_**AN: Hmm – anyone think that Edward and Bella's life is that perfect? We'll have to wait and see…**_

_**Sorry for the weak lemon – if you read my previous work A Long Journey – you know that's not my strong point.**_

_**The Home EC story was actually did happen to me. My teacher and I reached a conclusion that me being in a kitchen with would be too much of an insurance hazard. All memories…**_

_**Thanks everyone for taking the time to read/review/favorite/follow. I got my first review this week!**_


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight related…_

**Chapter 2: Decisions, decisions, decisions…**

The next morning I walked into work and logged in immediately to check my email. The usual suspects were there including an email from Jessica. I clicked it open.

_Bella,_

_It was a pleasure to meet with you yesterday. I look forward to meeting with you again._

_Sincerely,_

_Jessica S. Stanley, MD_

Generic reply, I thought, shutting it down. She was as obviously as interested in me as I was with her. I did not hear anything about it the end of the week on Friday afternoon. "Memorial Hospital, Dr. Morgan's office, this is Bella, how can I help you," I said, not paying attention to my caller id.

"Bella, hi, its Jessica Stanley," the voice on the other line said.

"Oh Dr. Stanley, how are you," I said sitting up.

"Well, thank you, listen could you come by later today, I am having the candidates meet with my team," she said.

I looked at my calendar I could take a late lunch. After a quick debate with myself I said, "Sure would 2:00 be ok?" My mother said never say no to any potential job opportunities.

"Sure, see you then," she said.

A minute later my email pinged. Curious, I opened the email. It was Jessica asking me if I could forward some references to her. I frowned the email proved she was serious about me however I didn't know how serious I was about her. Giving my references would include my current manager. I wasn't sure I was ready to admit I was looking for another job. Her contacting my references would show I was ready to leave.

Looking at my Outlook I thought about the morning I had. Jodi had demanded that I complete her financial statements for this morning. The phones had been ringing off the hook. Even though I had reservations about this job I knew I was not racking up any other job offers. My more temperamental side was making herself shown. It was the side that once made herself known after too many Cosmos and leading to the idea that hailing a cab by flashing it was a good idea. But it was also the side that convinced me to move to New York and marry a guy completely out of my league.

I looked the screen for another moment before making my decision and then opened up a new email. In the email I put the names of a couple of colleagues I could trust to keep a secret. If something came out this I could forward more solid references later on. Once I sent the email, I notified Jodi that I would be taking a late lunch. Around 1:45 I grabbed my bag and went to my interview. Jessica met me at the door and walked me in. "So Bella, I am going to walk you over to Cindy first and then you are going to meet the team", she explained.

Nodding my agreement we walked down the hall to the first person's office. "Cindy Olson, this is Bella Cullen, the candidate I told you about," Jessica introducing the two of us.

Cindy got up to shake my head. I smiled and she smiled back but not before I witnessed the look of loathing between the two of them.

"So Bella, what brings to our office," Cindy said, gesturing to the chair behind her desk.

"The job was really intriguing to me and to be honest I outgrew my current position some time ago," I said.

Cindy nodded, "I have reviewed your resume, you have a lot of promise. What is it about the job that you like?"

"The way it was explained to me I would be responsible for the financial health of the grant and help design budgets for any new grants that Dr. Grant would design?"

Cindy nodded again. "That's what it says on paper," she said. I feel that feeling of forbearance again. "Well you definitely have the experience for this and the education. You are extremely qualified." She frowned.

That concerned me. I knew for a fact this job had been opened for 6 months, in their place I would be dying for a qualified candidate. Verbally she was giving me the signs that she really liked me. However her body language indicated that she could not wait for me to get out of there fast enough. I wonder what I done in the last 5 minutes to offend her.

Cindy must have noticed my concern because she snapped right out of it. "Bella you are more than qualified for this job but Jessica can be," she searched for the word, "challenging."

I nodded, I had gathered that speaking with Dr. Stanley but I had difficult bosses before and could do it again. "I have had challenging bosses in the past. It's not my favorite situation but for the right position I would be willing to take it." I replied.

Cindy grinned. We spoke for a few more minutes. I liked Cindy she obviously knew her stuff. She and I were discussing the current bans on certain grants when Jessica came back. I knew I could learn a lot with her and was starting to feel better about this job.

Jessica came back and escorted me back to her office. "Bella, these are my senior staff members Rose, Vanessa and Lauren," she said introducing the three women at the round table in her office.

I had brought out my hand to shake their hands and realized how young this "senior" staff was. They all looked around the age of 23 I could have babysat any one of those kids during my teens. Was Jessica really serious about running a federally grant with a group of people, who unless they graduated college at 16 were completely unprepared for the challenges? Pushing my concerns aside, I sat down at the table.

"So Bella, have you worked on a grant before?" the shorter one, Lauren asked me.

"Yes," I replied and went into my experience with federal grants. The three of them nodded and the looked at each other.

"How you are with difficult people, "Vanessa asked," Jessica is usually pretty nice but she can be a little difficult sometime"

"Not a problem, I pride myself on being able work with anyone," I told her, noting this was the 3rd person who warned me about Jessica's personality.

The three of them continued to grill me about my working relationships with other researchers. As the interview was coming to end I realized that not one of these girls asked me about financial experience and my abilities in budget design. None of them could give me a straight answer what my job duties would be, something that a senior executive should know.

Relieve to be out there, I walked back to work, realizing how much I did not want this job. Sending a quick note to thank Jessica and her staff, I went home. August turned into September a week later when I got a surprise visit from Edward. It was September 12, 2008.

"Hey what a nice surprise!" I said getting up and kissing him on the cheek.

He tightly smiled and said "Can you leave for lunch today?"

"Sure," I said, looking at the clock. It was nearly one. I had skipped lunch to work on some reports and we didn't have clinic this afternoon. Picking up my phone I called Jodi to let her know I was leaving the office.

"C'mon" he said opening the door for me, "let's go to Europa."

We left my building and walked across the street, I grabbed a table while Edward paid for the coffee. Sitting down, he gave me my cup.

"Edward, what happened, you look like you same a ghost," I said.

He sighed, "My manager called me in today looking all freaked, and asked me if I cashed my check. He said if I didn't do it I better leave and do it immediately. I said I had and asked him what was going on. He told me that there was a meeting last night and the directors voted to file bankruptcy. Apparently the company was doing a lot worse than we thought." He was referring to the bad publicity Lehman's gotten recently. There had been talk about layoffs but I had thought with those bonus checks last week I thought that things were stabilizing there.

I sat there in shock. When I finally found my voice I asked, "what about your job, I take it that you are going to be laid off?"

He nodded, "We're notifying the staff on Monday. I am going to help the employees leave and then we are going to be shut down most likely."

"Oh baby, I am so sorry," I said, not knowing what to say other than that. Edward had hated his job but he took a lot of pride in working at Lehmans. It had a lot of history and he had been proud to contribute to the company and be part of it. He loved the fact he could provide a good lifestyle for our family. Finance was a fickle industry. Working for a busted company was a definite black mark on your resume and Edward had been with Lehmans for his entire career. The economy had been going down for a year and finding a job was going was going to be tough.

Edward looked at me with a scared look on his face. I could see his thoughts behind his eyes and the fear going through his mind. We sat there for another 20 minutes not saying anything. Finally we got up, we both had to get back to work. He had to hammer out logistics with the other senior staff in the company and would probably be on staff until the beginning of October. I took a little comfort as he would a couple of more paychecks.

Financially we were doing well and had enough money saved up for at least 9 months. I believed that Edward could definitely get a job in a few months, if not in finance, maybe teaching. I knew he loved lecturing college students. Giving workshops was his passion. It seemed like a good solution for the time being until the industry picked up again. However I was worried, even though my job provided our health insurance, my job would barely cover our bills. If we had an emergency we were screwed.

Sighing, I walked back into the building. My bag begin buzzing, I realized that my cell phone was ringing. "Hello," I said answering, walking over to a corner by the fire escape.

"Hi, Bella, this is Jason Robards," a man said, "do you have a couple of minutes?"

Jason Robards was the head of the research administration. He had initially interviewed me for the job with Jessica's department.

"Sure Jason, what's up," I asked, my pulse picking up.

"Well, congratulations, I don't know what you said to Jessica but she loves you. She wants to extend you an offer of employment."

"Wow – that's great," I told him, hoping my foreboding thoughts were just that thoughts, "Can I take some time to think about this?"

"Sure take all the time you need. Here are some details I want you know before you make your decision." He started listing some of the perks of the job. The hospital would pay for my research certification and then he got the salary part. It was $15,000 more then I was making. I had to sit for a moment. As much I wanted too, I couldn't deny the money would be really appreciated right now.

I thanked Jason for the call and looked at my spreadsheet. I had done some quick math, including whatever unemployment Edward would get. We had enough at our current rate of income to get by for a while if no major emergencies came up. If we tighten up some areas we could probably be better then even. There were some things we just wouldn't need if Edward wasn't working like his golf membership. Our mortgage payment was reasonable and we only owned the one car. The only outstanding bill was my student loan. We had a minimal credit debt but I thought we could apply Edward's bonus towards that. If I took this new job we could more comfortable. With that in mind I made my decision started composing a new email.

_Dear Dr. Stanley and Mr. Robard:_

_Thank you for calling me with the good news about the grants manager position. I would be honored to accept this position and look forward to contributing my talents to Dr. Stanley's staff._

_Sincerely,_

_Isabella Cullen_

I doubled checked it and sent it out. Both Jessica and Jason emailed me to thank me for joining the staff. I wrote a separate email to Jason detailing when I planned to start and began a separate resignation letter to my current employer and a detailed duty plan to start training a replacement. I wanted to give 30 days' notice. I might not be enthralled with my current job but they had been good to me over the years and I had no desire to screw them up.

Around 3:00 I got another call from Jason. "Hi Bella, its Jason," He said.

"Hi what can I do for you Jason," I asked.

"I just went over your acceptance letter and with Jessica. You write that you would like to start on October 13th?" he asked.

"Yes I would like to give my manager 30 days to so she can train someone new," I explained.

"Really, is this a department policy or just your policy," he asked

That got my attention. "Well to be honest Jason that is just my policy. First off if I don't give at least 2 weeks' notice I will lose my PTO and secondly I don't want to leave them in a lurch. That wouldn't be right and I wouldn't do that to Dr. Stanley," I explained.

"I see…"he trailed off, "Bella, she is really excited to get you aboard. There is some training you would need to do with the NIH and the only date for the next couple of months in couple of weeks. She actually wants you start in a week."

"Well couldn't I just take a couple of days and train and come back here? " I asked, wondering why this was a big deal. With any previous employer I had they did not think it was odd for me give at least 2 weeks' notice. In fact I couldn't remember any new employer who did not have me start 30 days after accepting a position. I had accrued over 100 hours of PTO. If I left within 10 days, which they were suggesting, I would lose the time."

"I could probably talk her into 2 weeks' notice," Jason told me.

I sighed, "Ok let me know as I want to give my letter to my manager." I put down the phone. It then occurred to me that I had just made a major decision without consulting Edward first. He was not going to be happy. It had been an emotionally exhausting day and this was going to be the icing on the cake. Around 4:30 I got an email from Jason stating that Jessica had agreed to the 2 week start period. I agreed and sent back my reply to them. I then emailed my managers and asked to meet with them the following day.

Thoroughly exhausted I grabbed my bag and went down to the subway entrance on 55th Street and started the trek home. Edward was waiting for me at the subway again when I got off the train. "Hey," he said, opening the door for me.

"Hey," I said walking through the door, taking the arm he offered. We arrived home 15 minutes later and I repeated the same routine. I got the kids down while Edward got dinner for us. Sitting down I proceeded to tell him my news.

"So got a call today from Jason Robards," I started after about 15 minutes of stress induced silence.

Edward looked up from his plate. "The guy who was interviewing you for that crazy chick's job?" he asked.

"Yeah, he offered me the job," I said.

"Really?"

"Really," I confirmed.

"So what do you want to do," he asked.

"I going to take it Edward, its more money," I explained.

"Yeah but that woman is a total psycho Bella, you are not going to be happy there," he said.

"Edward, you are not going to have a job by the end of next week. My workplace happiness is hardly relevant," I pointed out.

"Bella, I am going to find another job. I already have feelers out. You don't need to do this," he told me.

"We don't know how long you are going to be out of work. Listen, I know she is high maintenance but I worked for high maintenance people before. Plus they are going to help me get that research administration certification," I said.

"Yeah I know you've worked for shitty bosses but you hate it. You're always complaining about them. Hell how many times have you come frustrated because of something Jodi has done." He reminded me. I hated that the man had a memory of a steel trap, the unrusty kind.

We looked at each for a moment when it dawned on him. "You already accepted it didn't you," he told me. The man really was in the wrong field he should have been a lawyer or an investigative reporter.

I nodded there was no point in lying. "Dammit Bella, you would be giving me hell right now if I took a job without discussing it with you 1st." he snapped me, obviously hurt.

I cringed he was right it was a double standard no matter how justified I felt at the moment. Without another word he got up and left the table. The next thing I knew he came down with a pillow and blanket and threw it on the sofa. I cringed again.

"Edward, don't you think you are overreacting a bit," I said, he told to the task of assaulting our couch with the pillow. "We need to be realistic, who knows how long you are going to be out of work?"

He just glared me at. "Fine," I said, "When you want to act like an adult you can come up and find me." With that I got up and left the room, not even bothering to clear the dishes.

I walked up to our bedroom, checking on the kids first. Walking into my bedroom, I lied down and looked at our wedding photo. I could hear the faint sounds of our television in the background. I knew that I should have talked to Edward before going through all of this but my answer wasn't going to be any different. The fact remained that he was going to be out of work in a couple of weeks and this job paid more, bad boss aside. I knew I wasn't likely to get any sleep this evening and for that Sighing, I put down my wedding picture and got ready for bed.

The morning Edward was still giving me the silent treatment. Great, I thought inwardly as he ignored my good morning and went straight to the coffee maker. He just sat there at the table and sulked while I ran around trying to get the twins and myself together before the babysitter arrived. About 20 minutes into this the twins were still running around in their diapers and I snapped. He was just sitting there not even dressed for work yet staring into his coffee cup ignoring the chaos around him.

I know that Edward had a reason to be upset with me but he was completely overreacting. I had accepted a new job not had a wild affair with some guy. I walked over to his place at the table slammed down the New York Times in front him. He looked at me shocked and irritated at the same time.

"I know you aren't happy with me, but they're your kids too so stop sulking and help me get them ready. I didn't make them on my own," I snapped him and then threw in for good measure, "and since you are so goddamned confidant about getting a new job, here is the Times, start cruising the Classifieds."

With that I turned my back and grabbed Melody and walked into the babies' room and got her ready. With her settled, I grabbed my purse and went to the door.

"Where are you going," Edward asked with a squirming Geoffrey.

"What does it look, I going to work and if I don't move it I am going to be late," I replied grabbing the screen door.

"If you wait I'll walk you to the subway," he told me.

"Don't bother, I am not in the mood for the silent treatment or the attitude," I told him and stalked out the door. I felt good for about 5 minutes until I walked onto the train. The stress and lack of sleep caught up with me on the way to work. I had to fight to keep my eyes open on the subway and I still had to give notice. All and all not shaping out to be a good day.

Walking in my office, I took off my coat and settled my coffee cup on my desk. Going through my normal morning routine, I pulled the messages off voicemail and sorted the mail. After that was done I logged into my email and adjusted my resignation letter and printed it out. Once that done, I called Joni and told her I needed to speak with her in the afternoon. Even through the morning had such a rough start, it passed by without any major changes.

I spent the afternoon going through reports and making a list of things to do before I left. There were several projects I was heading out that would require me to stay over and do before I left. I made a note to myself not to take on anything else before I left. Edward tried to call and email several times but I just ignored not wanting to deal with any extra problems during the workday.

Jodi called me in at 3 and I walked in and sat across from her. Before her promotion she and I had actually been pretty close. She had been pretty sensitive to only have a high school degree and had glared at me when I got my masters. Once she got the promotion her personality had done a complete 180. Even if I didn't have the job offer I couldn't see myself staying any longer. Joni had made it clear that she had no respect for my work ethic or education.

"Bella, what's up," she said when I walked into her office. I sat in the chair by her desk and quietly gave her my letter. She took it and opened it. After reading it, the color drained from her face. "Are you sure," she asked quietly.

I nodded and handed her a second paper, "This is a list of the projects I have been working and what I think I can complete before I leave. I am willing to come in the next couple of Saturdays to complete this," I told her.

"Bella, this date is 2 weeks from now can you push the start day back later?" Jodi asked.

"They actually wanted me to start next week and I had to talk them into the 2 weeks," I explained.

"Well, I am going to call HR and see if I can push it," she said, in a matter of fact voice. I nodded.

By the end of the day my start date was now 3 weeks from today. Emotionally I was wrecked and really to go home. I stumbled outside the building. Edward was waiting for me on the outside I ignored him, walking to the subway terminal. He started to call my name but I kept ignoring him. I knew I was acting childishly but I didn't care. The 24 hours had been a roller coaster and I was getting my release.

"Ok, I get the picture, I was a jerk last night," he said grabbing my arm but I could enter the subway.

"Let go of me Edward," I told him not looking at him.

"Bella, I am sorry. You were right I overreacted," he said.

I nodded, my eyes, filling up with tears. It had been an awful 48 hours. "I know, I am sorry too," I said, trying not to cry.

"Look, my mom is going to watch the twins tonight, we can go and get dinner," he said, hugging me.

"Ok," I said sniffling like a five year old. We got on the train together and took it down to the Village and walked down to my favorite Italian restaurant.

Sitting down we ordered a bottle of wine, not sure where to start. We just looked at each other for a moment and then our wine glasses. "So, did you give your notice," Edward asked.

"Yeah – I spoke with Joni this afternoon," I said taking a sip of the wine.

"Bella, I am sorry – I have been so obsessed about my job that I didn't even consider about what you were thinking. I am just worried that you are going to take this job and be miserable," he said.

"I know and this is definitely not my dream job. I should have talked with you first before I even considered taking it. Edward, honey, you are not going to have a job in a few days. It's not just us anymore, we have Geoff and Melody to consider," I replied, taking his hand.

"We have money saved up," he pointed out.

"I know but you never know what can come up," I said, not want to take a chance with the financial health of our family. He nodded resigned. Edward was brilliant but even he realized you couldn't account for everything life throws at you.

"We told everyone today what is going to happen," he said, absentmindedly.

"I guess I know the answer, but how did it go?" I asked, stroking his hand.

"Like you probably guessed – horrible," he replied, running his fingers through his hair, "everyone wants to know when their last day is and when they can expect their paychecks. I can't blame them that was me yesterday. The department heads are going to make a statement today. If it is ok with you, I would like to go my parents' house in the Hamptons, the PR people that all the employees are probably going to get calls from the media."

I nodded it was good plan. No one would reach us out there. The season was almost over so there weren't many tourists out there. We would have to deal with this on Monday but at least we could have a break before the circus began.

Our entrees came and we picked at them, not feeling like eating. "How did Jodi take it?" Edward asked.

"About as well as you would think. She managed to get my start date pushed back an extra week. When I accepted the job I put in 30 days but they knocked it down to 2 weeks" I explained.

"That's impressive," he smirked. "So tell me from the beginning, I want to know everything. "

I started doing that. I explained how I had been working on our monthly expenses trying to squeeze more juice from our funds when I received the phone call. I told him about my initiate misgivings when I accepted and they wanted me to start this week. "I wish I had called you at the time but I got caught up all the sudden, like I was on this high," I explained, patting his hand. "I really needed to calm down but it was like car wreck, you couldn't stop looking if your life depended on it."

"I can relate, when I was first starting on the AMEX floor if you weren't careful you got caught in the whole adrenaline rush of the thing, especially if you had a really winner of stock," he said, taking a sip of wine, "I had couple of close calls that could have gone bad."

We both silent for a moment and then I went on about today and Joni managed to get an extra week for me. "I got a list of projects together that I need to complete before I leave. It's going to be a nights and maybe a Sunday to make complete the work. But obviously it's not going to be this weekend," I said. He nodded.

It was getting late and Edward wanted to leave early the next day. "Can we will leave tomorrow around 7:00?" he asked, putting my coat on me as we left the restaurant.

I agreed and we ended up at home around 10:30. Edward's mother said goodnight and I started packing for the beach. Edward came up behind me and watched me pack. He put his arms around me and started to nuzzle my neck. I turned around and kissed him back, his hands started to travel up my back.

"Edward, I have to finish packing," I murmured, distracted by his hands. His hands were one of the 1st things that had attracted me to him.

"I'll finished up," he told me his hands untucking my blouse from the waistband of my slacks. I could feel a shiver starting up my side.

"You promise" I asked, nibbling along his jawline. His stubble scrapped me slightly.

"I'll even packed up the diaper bag," he chuckling with a little moan, as I turned around and put my hands under his sweater. I smirked and continued my handy work.

_**AN: Hmm – do you think that Bella made a good choice? Should she have switched jobs? We know from the prologue that something does happen to her but can she foresee it right now? Also was Edward justified in the way he treated her?**_

_**Thanks everyone for reading/reviewing/favorite/following this story! On Friday we'll meet Edward's family.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twiight related…_

**Chapter 3: A brief eye before entering the storm…**

The next morning we left for the Hamptons around 7:00 to meet Edward's parents. The beauty of babies is that they will wake you up before the crack of dawn. Edward's prediction came true, the minute the news broke his cell went crazy. We were half way down the Long Island express when we heard the announcement on the radio. After 20 minutes of nonstop ringing we turned it off his phone and texted people to call my phone if they needed us. We ended up in Montauk around 12 and started unpacking.

After feeding Geoff and Melody and putting them down for a nap, Edward and I ventured out to the deck for lunch. We watched the waves and ate quietly until his parents came out to join us. "Rough week son," my father-in-law Carlisle asked.

"Let's put it this way, you were probably right when you suggested I that go to law school," Edward smirked, running a hand through his hair.

"I heard the news honey," his mom, Esme said, "When is your last day?"

"Probably the end of the week," he said, "I have to help with the dismembering and work out the severance for the staff. Not exactly what I graduated from Wharton for."

"Well this is temporary Edward. You won't be out of work for long son," Carlisle told him. Edward nodded. I knew Edward well enough to know that he was worried about how long it would take him to get back to work. Edward talked a good game earlier in the week when I gave him my reasons for taking the new job but I knew he felt like a failure. His big fear was that he wouldn't be able to take care of our family.

His brother Garrett was corporate lawyer and who pulled a fabulous salary from his firm. His wife Irina was my polar opposite. They were both nice enough in small doses but they were pretty conceited. Their sons David and Michael were holy terrors. I made sure I was around whenever they were around the twins. They were not mean kids just really active and they didn't know their own strength. It didn't help that their parents thought that everything that their sons did was adorable.

Edward became a totally different person around his brother. The first time I came over for a family dinner the two of them spent several hours in a pool table tournament. It was also the evening that he and I had our first argument. I didn't like the competition between the two but had come to accept it over the years.

_6 years ago_

_Nervously I got on the elevator with Edward. He was introducing me to his family today, his parents, brother and brand new sister-in-law. They had just gotten married two months ago right before I met Edward._

_To say I was nervous was an understatement having heard how accomplished his family was. Edward and his brother had attended Dartmouth like their father. His father made a fortune in investment banking and retired at 58. His parents had met during when his mother was attending Barnard for her degree in interior design. She opened her own firm after her sons started school. Irina, Garrett's wife, was a model had graced Vogue. They had meet when Garrett, a criminal defense lawyer, was on assignment in Milan interviewing a witness trying to avoid extradition. _

_And here I was, a girl from Jersey currently working as a secretary. My dad was a mechanic, my mother managed his garage and my sister Alice was a kindergarten teacher. In fact while I was riding the elevator to their penthouse, yup, Edward grew up in a penthouse, my parents were probably having Sunday brunch my sister and her husband Jasper Lonnie's the deli down the road. Yeah I was this family's equal alright. _

_The doors opened up to the apartment. "You have an elevator in your apartment," I asked Edward._

"_Kind of," Edward said sheepishly, "this is the foyer – we share it with another 3 other apartments. My father and brother own two of them."_

"_Oh," I replied with my brilliant answer, "Cool." This was so not cool. My parents' place could fit in the foyer. And here I was with some cheap flowers I grabbed from my local bodega._

"_Bella – you're fine," Edward said nuzzling my neck, "Don't be scared if anything they should be scared of you."_

"_Hah – you're cute," I replied, "My body building reputation precedes me?"_

_Edward laughed. "No your quick wit and the ability to knock my ass on the subway platform," Edward answered._

_I groaned wondering if I would ever live that down. "You're going to be fine and I'm sure you don't want to add late," Edward said reminding me with my obsession with punctuality, the exception being the time I was late to his lecture._

"_Okay – okay let's do this," I replied, reaching for the doorbell._

"_Bella this is my parent's house – I'm allowed to open the door myself," Edward reminded me, grabbing his keys and opening the door. _

"_Mom – dad – we're here," he called out, taking my hand and pulling me in the hallway that was surprisingly less opulent then I had originally thought._

"_Edward – darling," I heard a female voice call out._

"_Hi Mom," Edward called back, "I have Bella with me."_

"_Great," a petite, beautiful woman with Edward's coloring walked over with an older man with blond hair and blue eyes, "Bella – it's so wonderful to see you," she said._

"_It's wonderful to meet you too Mr. and Mrs. Cullen," I responded holding out my hand._

"_It's Esme dear – Mrs. Cullen is my mother-in-law," she shuddered, taking my hand and then surprised me with a hug._

"_And Mr. Cullen is my father," Carlisle finished for her, "Welcome to our home."_

"_Thank you I'm glad to be here," I said relaxing a little. _

"_Please come in and have a glass of wine with us. Garrett and Irina are already here," Esme said taking my arm._

"_See," Edward said quietly behind me, "Nothing to worry about."_

_I elbowed him a little to tickle him as we walked through the foyer. The more I looked around I realized this was more of a house set up then a standard apartment. There was even a staircase, which Edward told me led up to the bedrooms. For a moment I thought back to that TV show Different Strokes. If I remembered correctly that apartment was set up more like a house, complete with a staircase._

_Esme and Carlisle stopped at another room were two more people were sitting. A man with Carlisle's coloring and a strikingly beautiful tall woman with long straight platinum blond hair. This must be Garrett and Irina I thought. They both stood to greet Edward. I blanched when I realized that chick was almost 6 feet tall._

"_Edward – dahling," Irina said giving Edward that eurokiss thing that annoyed the crap out of me, "How have you been?"_

"_Fabulous – this is my Bella," Edward said proudly, putting his arm around me. I beamed when he did that. Irina gave a snide little smirk for a second. For moment I thought I was seeing things._

"_Hiya Bella," Garrett said putting his hand out to me, "It's a pleasure – this asshole won't stop talking about you."_

_I blanched for moment wondering my parents would have reacted if Alice or I ever had the audacity to refer to each other as bitches in his presence. I didn't have to wait long as Esme smacked her older son's head._

"_Garrett – manners," she hissed, "I'm so sorry Bella."_

"_Don't worry," I replied, Irina smirked at me again. Yup, I hadn't imagined the first one._

_We sat down for cocktails which I couldn't help noticing were dropping off like flies. I know it's always 5:00 in the afternoon somewhere but these people were some seriously heavy drinkers. I couldn't get over the amount of liquor being consumed._

_By the time we sat for brunch I was starting my 2__nd__ mimosa and the rest of them were at least on drink number three. The more they had the louder they were. I had never seen Edward like this before and frankly it scared me._

"_So Bella, Edward said you worked at MSK," Garrett asked, using his celery stick to stir his Bloody Mary._

"_Yeah – I've been there for a year and a half now as an administrative assistant. I'm working my master's degree right now," I replied._

"_How quaint," Irina replied. Apparently everything about me was quaint._

"_My parents think so," I said, smiling, my appetite going down as this meal went on._

"_What do your parents do," Carlisle asked with his big mega-watt grin. Seriously this guy could sell toothpaste with his sons._

"_My dad is a mechanic and my mom is a secretary – well she trained to be – she manages his garage now," I answered. Irina and Esme were evaluating me. I could hear "gold digger" in their minds. Finishing school manners and all._

"_All so you didn't fall far from the tree," Garrett laughing hard. Irina and his parents joined in a little. Edward tensed up besides me._

"_Well my dad got drafted into the army out of high school so he learned mechanics in the service and opened up his shop when he got discharged. My mom married as soon as he got his papers and helped him manage it," I told him coldly. Yeah my parents were blue collar but so what? It was good honest work and it paid well if you weren't putting on airs._

"_Besides Bella has a Bachelor's degree it's not like she is going to be a secretary for the rest of her life," Edward told his brother pissed. I looked at Edward for a minute and wondered if he was ashamed with what I did. Yeah I was a secretary but so what? Thanks to my parents I actually owned my home, unlike him and his brother._

"_Yeah – well when I get my masters I am sure a few things will open up," I replied._

"_Oh well there's nothing wrong with being a mechanic," Esme said ending that conversation, "Bella – where did you go to school."_

"_UCSD – I got a scholarship and a need desire for warmer weather," I told her, hoping that we could move on._

"_What brought you back here," Irina asked, genuinely interested for a change._

"_My dad had a heart attack," I explained, "So they needed help and I came back."_

"_Wow – that's a lot to give up," Irina said clucking her tongue._

"_I had graduated and I missed my family," I told her, "I didn't see it as a sacrifice."_

"_Well you're a regular Mother Tersea," Garrett chuckled._

"_That's me – say a hail Mary and we're good," I batted my eyes at him._

"_So you're a secretary from Jersey who is trying to make in the Big City," Garrett said, "Like Working Girl?"_

"_You forget that she was from Staten Island but I actually have a townhouse there so we're good with the comparison," I replied dryly._

"_Yeah and Bella isn't sleeping her way to the top," Edward said annoyed, "She's one of the smartest people I know."_

"_Well – I don't know if Edward told you," Garrett said like Edward hadn't spoken, "But Irina has been modeling since she was 16."_

_I took a better look at realized Irina had been on the cover of my Teen magazine when I had been 16. For a moment I wondered if I still had it. She looked the type that would sign it._

"_That's impressive," I replied, "I think I saw you on my cover of Teen once?"_

"_Oh yes – that was back in '95. That was one of my first jobs. I usually work in Milan, Paris, here, Los Angeles with the designers," she sighed like it she was giving me a glance into her glamorous life. I guess she was but I didn't like way she or husband was gloating._

_I knew that I was a dwarf compared to her and l had nothing on her looks but it was really tacky. "Well that sounds like you have an exciting life," I said finally, "Edward tells me you've both been recently married._

_That at least turned the focus from me but now I had to hear about their fairytale, 500 person wedding, complete with actual swans. Yup real live goddamn swans. She and Esme showed me the pictures after brunch._

_That was bad enough – the fact that Irina and Garrett were bragging about their fabulous life but now he was openly baiting Edward. He was throwing his latest malpractice settlement and how he was updating his apartment. Edward was going for it hook, line and sinker. The worse part was the drunker they got the more competitive they got. In fact this seemed to turn Irina on – she was purposely egging her husband._

_They were now in the billiard room and on their fifth game of pool. It was 6:00 at night and we had been there for 8 hours. Edward knew I had a paper due and he had promised to have me home in Staten Island by 3 at the latest. Each time I asked him if we could leave he told me in a minute and I was blocking his shot._

_At this point I had seen every baby album that Esme had and Garrett and Irina's wedding album twice. I needed to go home._

"_Bella honey – why don't you stay for dinner. We have a lovely bottle of red we want to try," Esme asked._

_I did not want to stay any longer to sample any bottle of red and watch my soon-to-be ex boyfriend get even drunker. "I would love to normally but I have a paper due and I need to get back," I told her as sincerely as possible. _

"_Oh Bella – I'm so sorry – you should have said something," Esme said, mortified, "The boys just get competitive. I'll get Edward right now."_

"_Thank you Esme," I replied too relieved to feel mortified about leaving less then gracefully._

_Edward came over a couple of minutes later, looking pissed, Garrett hooting over his victory with Irina drapped over him. "Let's go," he said curtly._

_I just bite my lip not willing to tell him off in front of his family. "Thank you for a lovely afternoon," I told his parents and Garrett and Irina._

"_Our pleasure Bella. Please come again," Carlisle said warmly, giving me a hug._

_I nodded one more time, as Edward held the door open. He was fuming as we waited for the elevator._

_The minute we got in the he turned around and yelled at me, "What the hell was that Bella – I was on a role! Five more fucking minutes and I would have won! You couldn't wait 5 more minutes and you sent my mother after me!"_

_I stared at him in amazement. This fucker had eaten up my afternoon and I had to put up with his snotty sister-in-law so he could prove a point to his brother? Oh screw this, I thought._

"_Hey – you promised to have me home by 3," I retorted, "It's 6 and now you're too drunk to drive!"_

"_I'm perfectly fine to drive," he snapped pulling his keys from his pocket._

"_No you're not – you've been drinking all day. You're freaking crazy if you think I'm going to get in a car with you," I told him._

"_No you're not – you're coming with me – you made me leave that game the least you can do you is spend the night with me," he retorted grabbing my arm as the elevator door opened._

"_You know what Edward – go fuck yourself," I snapped grabbing my arm back._

"_Geez – what is your problem," he yelled grabbing his hair with both hands._

"_You can't figure it out you jackass," I yelled back, "Let me tell you why. You just spent that last 6 hours trying to one up your brother. You completely disregarded that I needed to get my paper done. Now I'm going to be up all night! All because you're embarrassed to date a secretary instead of a goddamn super model!"_

"_You think I wish you were a model? Bella I love you because you're different then anyone I've known! If I wanted to model I'd date a model! Its not like there's a lack of them," he hissed._

_I just shook my head in complete disbelief over that last comment. "You know what – go find a model – I'm done," I told him heading the subway stop._

"_What – you're breaking up with me," he cried out in disbelief._

_I ignored him and went into the turnstile. Luck was on myself as the train was on time for a change before he could catch up with me. I was on the ferry watching Manhattan disappear when I realized that Edward said he loved me but I was too pissed to care._

_He left a message on my machine apologizing but that brunch had been an eye opener. I emailed him and asked him for sometime. Edward met me at the ferry every night after work for a week when I finally broke down and talked to him. It was the first fight we ever had and it was dosey. But he had reached an understanding with me about his relationship with Garrett. He wouldn't try to compete but I need to let him when it was bothering._

These days I just tried to change the subject when Garrett started on how successful his business was and how thin his wife was after childbirth. It saved me some serious frustration that way.

"I have some news, it looks like I have a new job," I said, trying to change the subject. Edward looked at me thankfully.

"Really as what dear?" Esme asked me.

"I accepted a job as a grants manager, I start in three weeks," I said.

"That's great Bella, so does that mean you are out of the secretary pool," Carlisle asked.

"Yes, finally," I said, "the best part is that they are going to help me get a research certificate."

"Any drawbacks that you see," he asked.

"The boss is definitely a micromanager but it's nothing I haven't dealt with before," I told him, "Anyway the experience would be incredibly valuable."

"That's good sweetie," Esme said patting me on my back.

"Is there more money involved?" Carlisle asked.

Ah Carlisle, I thought, my investment banker of a father in law – does your nosiness know any bounds? I could see my mother-in-law cringing. "Yes, my salary would be being going up significantly", I said trying not to get too offended.

"Bella, let goes go for a walk, Mom do you mind keeping an eye on the twins," Edward asked.

"Not all dear, have a good time," she said, "C'mon Carlisle, stop harassing the kids"

We went to the beach and started walking along the shoreline. Correction, I was walking, he was practically jogging. "Edward, honey, are you okay," I asked, putting my hand on his arm.

"Not really," he said, "I could see my dad estimating how long it was going to take to for us to hit him up for a loan."

"Oh Edward," I said not knowing what to say.

"I am really scared Bella, there is something big coming up. I am pretty sure that we going to hit a serious recession. What if I don't get hired on right away? I can't think of any companies that are going to want a financial analyst from a defunct company," he said, sitting down on the beach, finally voicing his biggest fear. He ran his hands through his hair, a gesture that spoke his agitation.

I sat down in the sand with him and watched the waves. "Well maybe this is a blessing in disguise," I said taking his hand, "you hated your job."

"I know I did but I loved being able to provide for my family," he replied.

"Well I work too, don't forget that," I said raising my eyebrows to his smirk, "We are ok financially. You have some time to think about this and you can be with the kids more in the meantime."

"You are really are the best Bella," he said, kissing my wrist, "I am so sorry about last Thursday."

"I know," I told him, putting my head in the nook on his shoulder, one of my favorite places on his body. We sat and watched the waves for a while.

Before I know it the weekend was up and we were heading back to the city. Somehow our address had leaked to the media and there were a number of reporters by our building. Edward wasn't senior management but at that point any executive was fair game. Fortunately our doorman had kept most of them at bay. He had called ahead to warn us. After we parked our car in the lot next door, we slipped in via the service entrance with no one the wiser.

Life started up again the next day with our nanny arriving at 7 to the general chaos that twin toddlers can create. We both left the service entrance again and I headed to the subway. The rest of the week past with the reporters eventually leaving our building when they realized Edward wasn't going to talk. The next few days flew by as I tied up the loose ends of my job, my years at that office starting to make themselves known by the boxes I started to bring home each day. I had some good times with the people I had worked with. It had been a good place to work.

This had been my first job out of college and I had been just a kid when I had started. As I looked into the contents of my box I could see the pictures that had accumulated over the years. One picture was of the original staff that had been here when I first started. We had gone out to Bourbon Street one Friday night and had partied until 1 in the morning. I only left because I was afraid of getting accosted on the Staten Island ferry. My 1st apartment had been in St. Mark's place. It had been a hike to East 60th Street for sure. Another picture had a slightly different cast of characters but had been taken around the time Edward and I had first met. We had gone out with my office mates to O'Leary's pub down the street from here. We had been dating for maybe 6 weeks. I had a Guinness in my hands and Edward was looking at me like a piece of gold. It was one of my favorites you could see the happiness coming out of us. The third I picked up had been taken during my office baby shower. Most of the people I had started with had already moved on but came for the shower. I had been huge, not surprising since I was having twins. Finishing up, I took a last look and put the lid on the box and walked out. I decided to treat myself to a cab ride home.

_**AN: So a little insight on the in-laws. Hmm – ever had that relative that liked to rub it in your face about how well they're doing when you're struggling? Bella is going to start her new job in the next chapter. **_

_**Thanks everyone for taking the time to read/review/favorite/follow this story. The my last story, A Long Journey was nominated in nominated in TwiFan Recommendations. Please check it out if you get a chance – thanks!**_

_** /category/top-ten-fics/top-ten-completed-fics-jul-2014/**_


	5. Chapter 5

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight related…_

**Chapter 4: First day, first impressions and fine Print – my parents always said read the fine print…**

All too soon the three weeks was up and I was starting my new job. It was October 2008. Edward had finished his role at the Lehmans and was spending his days going through leads to get a new job. He was hoping to step in a higher level than he had been before. I was not to optimistic about this as the housing market had crashed during the Spring. We had a new presidential administration and all the poles were indicating that Barack Obama was going to be president. While this excited me, as his chief agenda was to work on healthcare, my husband and his friends in the financial community were concerned about the effects this could have on corporate America. In addition as he pointed out he was coming in from a bankrupted intuition.

I walked into the MSK research pavilion one bright fall morning in October. The only good thing so far about this day had been the weather. I awoke to two screaming babies at 4:00 am this morning. The twins were teething so the order of the day was lets make mommy as miserable as us. Of course Edward had burrowed under his pillow and said, "Sorry honey – they only want you."

He was right but it still pissed me off since he didn't have to work. My day only got progressively worse when I realized that the box of personal items I wanted to bring was missing. I didn't have time to look for it I was running late, having already changed my clothes twice. Since Lisa was late, I had decided to feed the twins myself. They were in fine form deciding to throw their oatmeal not once but twice on me. You think after being a mom for a year I would have had the common sense to wear something over my business suit.

Lisa finally came in after round 2 with the oatmeal and I ran back into the bedroom to throw yet another suit on. Edward chuckled at me as I grabbed another suit from the dry cleaning. "The twins taking you down baby," he asked as I tucked my blouse in.

"Hahahaha – very funny," I told him annoyed that it was now 7:30 and he was still in bed, "Look can you take these to the dry cleaners? I'm going to need them later in the week."

"Yeah – sure, I'll drop it off when I head out to the range this morning," he replied rubbing his face.

That stopped for a second. "Range," I asked.

"Yeah – I'm driving out club this morning – get a couple of holes in," he explained.

That got my attention. "I thought you were cancelling the membership," I said. That membership was expensive and we no longer had a 2nd income.

"Baby – c'mon – it's a necessity in my field," Edward said looking at me like I had a 2nd head, "You make a lot of contacts on the range."

"Edward – I don't think this is a good idea," I told him, thinking he could make more contacts using Monster or Linkedin.

"Bella – I'm not justifying this to you. We have the money in savings. Remember – you said we could the bonus for pleasure," he replied sharply.

"Yes, I did," I said slowly, "But I assumed that you would have rethought that given our current situation."

"Yeah – well next time tell what me want you're thinking," Edward said and kissed my forehead lightly, "I'll drop your cleaning off. Good luck on your first day."

I frowned as he disappeared into the bathroom. I felt like he was blowing me off but I didn't have time to dwell on it because I was really late now.

The only good think about this day was the public transportation was moving and I made it to Jessica's office in record time. I got to the door and realized that I needed a badge to get inside. It was 8:00 so someone had to be there I thought knocking on the door.

I knocked on the door for about 10 minutes when I realized no one was there. Fanfreakingtastic, I thought, and sat on the bench. Where the hell was the secretary –that was her job for Christ's Sake – it was secretarial 101. You needed to be there and open up the joint for the boss. If this was why Jessica was pissed with her AA I could totally understand why she wanted to fire her.

About 30 minutes later, a girl started running up. I took a good look and realized that this was Lauren – one of the girls had interviewed me the day before. "Hi Lauren – right," I said smiling at her, my hand out.

Lauren looked at me with distain and took my hand like it was diseased. "Yeah – hi," she said in a disinterested voice, "Let's go inside. 1st thing we need to do is get you a badge because there is no way I'm getting here this early again."

"Okay," I said, taking back by this girl's rudeness.

"That is where you're going to be sitting," Lauren said pointing to the area that I had seen the secretary sitting the other day. My blood ran cold as I went to put my bag down. Surely there were two desks here. I walked to into the office area and realized it was a glorified closet.

The glorified closet didn't bother me so much I had been in worse. It was the realization that there was only one desk in this glorified closet. "I'm sorry but isn't this were the secretary sits," I asked looking at Lauren.

Lauren shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah – about that – a couple of things happened over the weekend. Jessica is going to explain that when she gets in," she said. The way she spoke about Jessica was reminiscence of how David Koresh's followers spoke about him. It crept me out and made me wondered if I had joined a cult or gotten a job.

"Would you mind enlightening me now," I asked crossing my arms.

"Look – Jessica is going tell you. You listen to Jessica and you won't have any problems," Lauren told me and under her breath said, "and if you don't fuck up my life will be immensely easier."

I just shook my head and put my crap down. Maybe I could still get my job back but with the way Edward was not accepting our situation that might be close to impossible. "Okay – what else do you have for me," I replied as we walked around the office.

"You're going to be responsible for Jessica's calendar and correspondence going forward," she replied, "And Jessica's plants. Do not forget her plants. They're like her children. Kara forgot and it was bad." Lauren shuddered at the memory, like she had witnessed an execution.

"Come again – I have water the plants," I asked in disbelief. First of all not even secretaries did that anymore and secondly Jessica had a goddamn rainforest in the office.

Lauren looked like at me like I was an idiot savant. "Yes – it's in your job description," she replied rolling her eyes, "okay – the other thing you're going to be doing is the grants financial administration. I'm going to be responsible for the clinical administration."

"Okay," I replied, at least that hadn't changed. But I was realized that Jessica was combine the two jobs.

"Here's the grant – get familiar with it," Lauren said handing me a binder with the information.

Shaking my head, I sat down to review the information. An hour and a half later I realized that a couple of things. Jessica was not an early bird and apparently neither was the staff. They were mostly here now but they didn't get until 9:15. Jessica wasn't here yet, which according to Lauren was normal. The other thing that I realized was that this grant was a financial mess.

Jessica just did not have the administrative supported she needed to make this thing fly. She hadn't spent a lot of money but the money she did spend was mostly padding the research side. After reviewing the CVs of the staff I realized she was overpaying everyone by at least $10,000. From what I could tell they were mostly out of college. My first job out of college didn't even pay half of what Lauren or the John, the database guy, made. I could see the reason for John's salary but he was like 5 days out of college. He had no freaking experience. It was insane. To top it off there was a list of equipment that Jennifer had wanted to purchase, my personal favorites was a flat screen TV and Evian water.

I shook my head, feeling a migraine coming on when the phone rang. "Good morning Dr. Stanley's office, this is Bella, how many I help you today," I replied, realizing that I was most likely the receptionist as well.

"Hi Bella, it's Jason Robards," he said, "I just wanted to see how you were settling in."

"I'm just getting acquainted with the grant," I explained, "I have some things that I need to review with Dr. Stanley."

"Okay – good – listen I need to discuss a couple of things with you," he replied, "the rest of the financial team is having a staff meeting this afternoon. I would like you to attend to get a better feel who you're going to be working with."

"Okay – no problem, I'll let Dr. Stanley when she comes in," I said, right after we discuss this mess I thought.

"You know Bella – you might want to keep that on that on the down low," Jason suggested, "Jessica tends to get testy when you meet with the managerial staff with her presents. Since this is a meet and greet…"

"Less said is better," I suggested, wondering what kind of madhouse I had gotten myself into. Why the fuck couldn't they just had said you're going to be working for a psycho with trust issues instead of Jessica is a little challenging. Or better why couldn't they tell me that during the interview?

The fun part was I hadn't even started with Jessica yet and I already had a list of do's and do not's. One of those do not's was a list of people I was not allowed to speak with. Yup I had my own papal ban.

"Yes – perfect – you are going to be perfect for this," Jason exclaimed, "See you at 2!"

"See you at 2," I replied dryly, hanging the phone. The door opened again and Jessica finally graced us with her presence.

"Bella," she squealed like my twins, "It's so good to see you!"

"I'm so glad to be here Dr. Stanley," I replied warmly hoping that her staff was just a little hyper and there was a legitimate reason for all these changes.

"Me too – let me get settled and then lets meet," Jessica said walking to her office, "And remember its Jessica."

"Okay – Jessica," I replied, trying her first name on for size. It didn't feel right but she was the boss.

Jessica buzzed me into her office about 15 minutes later to review what she expected me. Grabbing my notebook and the notes I had made I walked there.

"Please have a seat," Jessica said pointing the round table I had my interview at.

"So I thought that maybe we should review your duties," Jessica said twirling her hair, "Did you have a chance to review the grant?"

"Yes Lauren gave me a copy," I replied, getting ready with my questions.

"Great and she also told you about Kara leaving," she asked.

"Yes that was actually something I wanted to ask you about," I said, grabbing my notebook.

"Okay – what did you want to say," she said raising her eyebrow.

"Lauren explained to me that I was going to be handling Kara's duties in addition to being the grants manager," I said, looking to her for confirmation.

"Exactly," Jessica said beaming.

"But according to the terms of the grant you need an administrative assistant in addition to a grants manager," I replied confused.

"Well – I'm going to get that changed next yearly review," Jessica explained, "What we really need is another research assistant."

That got my attention – there were already 6 overpaid research assistants on this project. Frankly in my experience most projects of this size only required 3 or 4 at the most. "I see – so for the foreseeable future you are not planning to hire an AA," I asked her, realizing that I traded in Joni for the Attila the Hun.

"I want to see what you can do. Think of it as a challenge," Jessica said smiling at me like my kids did when they were trying to hide something from, "Now what do you think we should do about my mail system? How do you plan to fix it for me? Oh and my plants? Let's not forget about my plants."

"How about different color folders? Blue for your research, red for your medical practice, green for personal?" I asked, feeling at a complete lost.

Jessica actually jumped up and down in her seat and clapped her hands. "That's perfect – I knew you would be at this," she squealed.

"Terrific," I echoed, than we continued to review the duties. One of my immediate ones was going to be to arrange her conference for next week. It was scheduled for that Tuesday and according to Jennifer the only thing they had done was reserve the space and sound out the invites.

"Okay – well I feel better about this arrangement – don't you," she said.

"Yes – before I forget – they want me to attend an orientation at 2," I told her, "Is that okay with you?"

"That should be fine – we have a call today at this time but I don't need you for notes today – Lauren can do it this time," she said, "Can you ask her to come in please?"

"Sure," I said getting up, walking into my new "office". Passing Lauren on the way I said, "Jessica wanted to know if you could speak with her."

Lauren jumped up like a seal and ran to the office. Okay, I thought, for a moment fighting the urge to yell _Slow Down_ like I would with my kids.

Sighing, I sat down and reviewed the folder that Jessica gave for the conference. That duty consumed me for the next few hours, while I confirmed that we did indeed have the space confirmed for the next week. After that I called up all the participants to get a final guest count. It looked Lauren had actually done the initial planning but she lost interested at some point.

We still didn't have a program, food, transportation, or lodging. Those things kept me occupied so I didn't notice anything until my alarm on cell phone went off at 2. Since my office computer wasn't functional – Jessica wanted it wiped – I had to resort to my personal laptop. I was glad I had remembered to take it at the last minute since the rest of staff used laptops and there were no spares for me.

About an hour after I left Jessica to go meet with Jason and his staff. He introduced the other managers went over the forms I needed for my job and gave me a purchase car any business related expenses we needed. I had used one before for my other job I had and was familiar with the guidelines.

"So Bella do you have any questions for me or the managers," Jason asked.

"Yes – one actually. Dr. Stanley mentioned to me that wanted me to assume her secretary's duties as well," I said, "She wants to restructure her grant to reflect that. What forms should I fill out to complete that process?"

They all looked at each other and then at me. "Bella – it's very important that Jessica understand the terms of her grant. It requires a manager and a secretary," Cindy said.

"Yes but she wants to restructure it. Doesn't she ultimately have that control," I replied.

They looked at each other and then at me. "Yes – she does but she needs to stop redoing the terms every few months," Cindy answered, "She had a nasty habit of rewriting things and forgetting that she agreed to it. If she makes this change make sure you document it. She has until the carryover date in December to make this permanent."

"Okay," I agreed not wanting to get in trouble for someone's bad choices.

"One more did Jessica tell you when your salary increase would be going to into effect," Jason asked.

"I'm not sure I follow," I said getting a bad feeling, "Is there some sort of raise that I'm entitled too after probation?"

"No – you get your salary increase after you complete probation," Jason explained.

"What do you – mean – there is nothing in my agreement to indicate that," I said, feeling my temper starting to rise. I didn't like getting screwed over. Only Edward had that privilege.

Jason pulled out my employment agreement from his desk. Oh dear god, I thought he was anticipating this. "Right here Bella," he said quietly.

Going through the document I realized that in addition to the six month probation period I had agreed too, my increase would only partially come into effect until I passed probation. Oh God, I thought, how was I going to explain this to Edward?

_**AN: Yup – always read that fine print. You never know what you're going to find. Through in my own experience if the job is telling you a six month probation period – steer clear. **_

_**What do you think of Edward's behavior? How does he compare to the Edward at the beginning of this story?**_

_**Thanks everyone for reading/writing/favoriting/following this story!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight related…_

**Chapter 5: False promises and hope…**

Both Jason and Cindy looked at me with sympathy as I put down the agreement. I had been so damn relieved to get this job that I didn't read the fine print. I couldn't believe I had been this stupid. My dad always took me to read the fine print.

"Thank you for bring this to my attention," I told them getting up, "I should get back to the office. I need to go over Dr. Stanley's conference with her."

"Look Bella – trust me – you're not the first person this has happened too," Cindy said, "Just be careful for working her. Trust me – this isn't the last time she's going to push a fast one on you."

Trust me Cindy, I thought as she disappeared down the hall, I'm not making that mistake again. I walked back slowly to my office feeling sick and not sure how I was going to explain this Edward. He was going to be furious even his initial reaction to my acceptance of this job.

I was preparing myself when I walked into the office suite to see a furious Jessica standing by my office. "Just what were you discussing with administration," she demanded.

For a moment I was taken back to the 11th grade when I missed curfew to make out with Matt Russo from my algebra class. "I'm sorry," I asked wondering what she was talking about.

"Lauren said that you had a meeting with an administration to review the finances of the grant," she retorted, her face during a startling shade of red.

"Jessica," I said taking a deep breath, "They asked me over to give me an orientation. I assure you that you that only two things came up. My p-card and I asked them to help with the paperwork so we could make that change you wanted."

Jessica took a cleansing breath herself. "You didn't review the budget with them," she replied.

"No," I told her, thinking why she would think on my first day I would try and sell her down the river, "I would speak with you first if any important was needed."

Jessica took another breath. "Good – remember you can't serve two masters," she said reminding me of Hannibal Lecter, "By the way Lauren is going to be sitting with you."

Lauren moved by me a with a box. She looked as thrilled as I was with this new development change.

"Jessica – that space is kind of small," I told her hoping she would get the hit. Given that I could barely fit in there having another person wasn't great idea. Especially when that person was a snitch but I guess that was more my issue then Jessica's.

"Nonsense – it's the perfect set-up until you're able to completely take over the financial details. Lauren's been handling it for months," she beamed.

Realizing I wasn't going to win this and I debated with myself about asking about the salary change but decided to drop it. What was the point? I had accepted the offer. I knew if compared the letters I would find the error but the time to protest it was over. Instead I opted to review the conference, a subject she was more then ready to talk about. Jessica looked in impressed that I had accomplished so much in a day.

"Not a problem and it's mostly done," I explained, "We just to get your paperwork together and make packets."

"That's great Bella – well – I'm out of here," she said, "Have a good night."

"Have a good night," I echoed, realizing Jessica hadn't even been here five hours today. I sat down and went through the financials again. The fact that Lauren had been in charge explained the mess. Now I had to clean it. Fun fun fun.

I stayed at work for a couple of more hours watching at an extremely pissed Lauren put her things in boxes. Apparently the maintenance staff had been called and were moving the filing cabinet against the wall and then adding a new desk tomorrow. That was my job tomorrow as I now had access to the office.

Feeling depressed, I got on the subway and headed home. I walked home to chaos. The twins were still in fine form, still sore from their teething. Lisa ran out there like her ass was on fire. "Wait – Lisa," I called into the hallway, holding both babies.

"Yeah," she called back, obviously desperate for some peace and quiet.

"Where is Edward," I asked.

Lisa shrugged her shoulders and ran into the elevator. I signed and turned around. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that suits I asked Edward to take to the dry cleaners were still there. Great, I thought, knowing I was going to have problems later in the week. Fortunately we had a washer and dryer unit in the kitchen, a benefit few New Yorkers had. I could use my home dry cleaning kit if I had too, assuming the clothes weren't ready by Thursday.

I feed and got the twins down by 8 with no Edward, not even a phone call. He walked into the apartment around 9, while I was sitting on the sofa with a cup of noodles.

"Hey – how was the first day," Edward asked throwing his keys on the table.

"Where have you been," I asked, twirling the pasta.

"You know – I was playing golf and had a beer with the guys. We decided to grab dinner afterwards," he answered.

I blanched knowing how much dinner cost at that place. "Edward – you promised to take my cleaning in," I reminded him, putting to the suits in the bag.

"Oh – sorry honey – I'll do that tomorrow," Edward said sitting down with me, "Tell me how was your first day."

Sighing, my need to vent more urgent then my annoyance over his inconsideration, I preceded to tell him about today from Lauren being late, to the plants, to the mail, to my salary. Edward looked at me in disbelief but avoided telling me I told you so.

"Wow – I'm so sorry Bella," he said taking my hand, "Well if makes you feel any better, I might have gotten a lead on job today. Remember Seth Clearwater? They're looking for someone at his bank."

"That's great Edward," I said feeling marginally better, "Do you have an interview?"

"I got a number – I'm calling tomorrow," he said, "Told ya – golf course is where you make the real connections."

"I'll keep that in mind," I replied dryly, "Look I'm going to get some sleep my head is pounding"

"I'll give you a back rub and if the kids get up this morning – I'm your man," he replied.

"Thanks," I said appreciating the gesture. Maybe Edward would get back to faster. Then I could start looking for something else after I got a year's experience.

_**AN: It's a short one – sorry – my week started with my youngest losing her feeding tube and ended it with my oldest following into some poison ivy.**_

_**So what did you think of Edward's reaction? Do you think Bella should have said something about her contract? Some of this is based off an experience I had so having had this experience I would definitely bring it up today. Do you think Edward is going to be successful at this job or if he'll even get it?**_

_**Thank you everyone for taking the time to read/review/follower/favorite this story!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight related…._

**Chapter 6: Reality bites…**

The rest of the week wasn't much different from Monday. It turned out that Seth gave Edward that job tip at 3:30 about the same time Paul Lahote told Mike Newton. The difference was that Mike Newton had just graduated Yale and was hungry. He called up immediately, had an interview that afternoon and was offered the job on the spot.

Edward on the other hand finished up his round of golf and went out with his friends. In the old days that would have been enough to get him a job but even the state of the economy everyone was grabbing at whatever job they could find. Edward realized that when he called the next morning and found that the job was now gone. It was his first dose of reality when he called me up during my lunch hour to tell me what happened.

I got to work the next day to find I had been enrolled into a seminar needed for my certification. I was organizing the new office space when I saw email coming on my newly formatted desktop. I forwarded the date to Jessica and Lauren and noted it on their calendars. One of my tasks that week was to get everyone on an Outlook calendar. Everyone was using their own private Yahoo or Gmail accounts instead of Outlook. Not the best strategy to keep everyone organized.

On my third day I became friends with Rose one of the research coordinators. She was 26, the closest there to my age and had just finished her master's degree in public health. Her passion was maternal fetal health and I found out over lunch she was working getting a job with the government.

"So do you like working for Jessica," I asked as we sat down with our salads.

"It's an experience," she replied noncommittally, "Look Bella – I'm going to give you some advice, do your year but that's it. And stay away from Lauren. Keep everything locked up. She loves sucking up to Jessica."

I nodded. Rose wasn't telling me anything I didn't know. We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about our personal lives. She had a boyfriend named Emmett who was an assistant coach for Columbia University's football team. I laughed when I realized her boyfriend worked in the same school as my brother-in-law Jasper. Jasper lectured part time for the psychology department.

Given the lack of preparation for this conference I ended up dividing the remaining things up. The company I was using for the catering had agreed to deliver the food to our campus, I had Angela one of the younger assistants meet them. John was going to set up the conference call phone in case IT couldn't make it. Rose and Lauren would going to get work on the clinical powerpoints. I was going to get all everything printed out.

Lisa agreed to work late for the remaining part of the week so I could get the rest of the conference completed. Edward was spending his days trying to get more leads on jobs either by going to the golf course or the drinks. Either way he wasn't at home and I was starting to feel it.

After a particularly grueling day where I finally got the brochures printed with Lauren, I had gotten home at 9:00 where I called Lisa a taxi to send her home. Edward wasn't home and he had been out all week. He came home around 10 pm wobbling a little. I was shocked to see him come in drunk.

"Where the hell have you been," I demanded as he staggered into our bedroom. I was already in bed with a massive migraine from Jessica double checking everything and changing it at the last minute. The only thing I got out of that experience was a begrudging good job. Jessica's parting comment this afternoon had been to tell me and Lauren that we were meeting the conference participant at the airport to make sure they got checked into the hotel properly.

"Out baby – pounding the pavement. You know that baby," he slurred a little leaning forward to give me a kiss. He reeked of whiskey it was making my migraine worse. I turned my head out of instinct.

"Edward do you think you could pound the pavement next week from our house," I asked, "We really can't afford for you to keep going out like this. I wouldn't have to use Lisa as much. If you were home."

Edward huffed a little. "Bella – I told you – this is how it's done in my field. You saw that I scored a job lead my first day out."

Which you didn't get because you went out drinking instead of calling the guy, I thought to myself. "Edward, I'm not trying to nag you but we need to be careful and frankly I could use the help," I told him bluntly.

"Well why don't you ask Lisa to stay a little longer," Edward asked.

"Jesus – am I talking to a brick wall," I snapped throwing up my hands, "Edward – we don't have the money for this and I need the help. Here you are coming home drunk!"

"Okay – geez – I'll tone it down a little," he said, shaking his head, "I don't wanna fight baby."

"Fine," I said, really in too much pain to argue anymore. Edward started to run his fingers up and down my spine.

"Edward – I'm not feeling good – I need to sleep," I told him.

"You got a migraine baby," Edward asked for the first time realizing how dark the room had been.

"Yeah – listen – I have to work on Sunday. I need to make sure that the conference guests get settled. You have to watch the twins that day," I told him.

"Bella – you know – I was going to – " he started to say.

"Edward Cullen if you say you were going to play 9 holes I'm going to kill you," I hissed sitting up in a hurry and regretting it.

"No honey – nothing like that – my parents want us over for brunch," he said, leading me back down to the bed, "Rest."

"Oh," I said wondering if I was turning into Ethel Mertz.

Edward kept his promise and took the kids over to his parents for brunch while I dealt Jessica's guests. Lauren and I actually had conversation while waiting at JFK that was fairly decent. She wanted to be a medical researcher like Jessica and was banking on a really good letter of recommendation from her. Lauren wasn't half bad out of the office but I still didn't trust her. However she was efficient on getting people in the bus so we could return back to Manhattan.

We got everyone settled in the Hotel Pierre and I confirmed the bus arrangement to the conference the next day. I got home at 5 in the afternoon and to two excited kids and a very depressed husband. "Edward," I asked kneeling down at him.

"My brother and his family was there," he said looking at me. He was playing with the label of a Heinkein bottle, "He made full partner at his firm."

"Edward," I signed putting my hand on his face, "This is a set back."

"Bell – I love you but we know this isn't a settle back. We're in a recession. And I fucked up by not chasing a lead. You're so worry about money and I can't do a goddamn thing to help you out," he said, putting the beer down.

"Edward – it'll be okay – you'll work again," I told him, "Maybe you should look into teaching. You always loved lecturing."

"Baby – it's about what's best for our family. I made more as a banker," he said.

"You hated the work," I reminded him, "You would be a lot happier."

"I know you mean well Bella – but I need to provide for this family," he said getting up, "I'm going to look at the Times – can you watch the kids?"

I nodded feeling like I was failing as a wife. "You do that – then come to bed. I'll rub your shoulders," I called out.

Edward smiled a little and went to the living but I knew his heart wasn't into it.

_**AN: Hmm – not getting better for Edward is it? For you naysayers out there – that story about missing out on a lead is actually based from a friend's story. It wasn't corporate banking but the guy in question put off calling a possible interview. When he call the next day someone had been hired Morale of the story – don't put off opportunities.**_

_**Thanks everyone for taking the time to read/review/follow/favorite this story!**_


	8. Chapter 89

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight related…and there is a lemon in this chapter…_

**Chapter 7: A Joyride through Crazytown…**

The next week started more calmly then the previous one. Edward had gone to the dry cleaners to get my suits for me and had gotten up before me to make breakfast. Yawning as I got up I went into the kitchen to smell of pancakes, my favorite.

"Yum – to want do I owe this honor," I teased, wrapping my arms around his naked torso.

"Being a great wife," he replied putting his hand on mine. I noticed to the side that his laptop was running and had his resume on the screen.

"Well nothing says happy wife more then pancakes," I said kissing his shoulder, "How long have you been up?" It was 6:00 am now.

"A couple hours," Edward admitted. When he was worried Edward was an insomniac. Believe it or not I actually preferred that Edward to the drunk one slobbering me the other night.

"You need some sleep," I told him, stroking his arm, " You need to be healthy for me and the twins."

Edward chuckled. "Coming from the woman who was chugging Advil like beer at a Frat party," he teased.

He gave me the first genuine smile I had seen from him in ages and bent down to kiss me. I kissed him back humming a little. Very gently he moved his hand down my waist to my backside caressing it gently. I hummed again appreciatively and moved back to the counter that his laptop wasn't currently seated.

"Remember when we saw Fatal Attraction," I asked, remember the first time we had dinner at my place. Being out on Staten Island it was almost a guarantee that Edward would be spending the night. We had been dating for a couple of months at that point and I didn't care.

"Yup if I remember correctly you got really turned on when Michael Douglas did this," Edward said hoisting me onto the counter.

"If I remember correctly you got pretty into it as well," I teased drawing him closer. I really wanted him in me at that point so I could have a stress reliever not in the form of an over the counter pain reliever.

Edward smirked remembering the heavy-duty make session that had followed the infamous counter sex scene, which let us to skipping the other infamous scenes, bunny and bathroom ones.

Edward kissed me deeply as I ran my hands up and down his bareback. He had gone to bed shirtless last night for which I was truly appreciative of this moment. Smiling I lift my arms and Edward complied removing my nightshirt. "Perfect," he said blowing in a nipple to make into a harden bud.

"Hardly," I moaned a little.

"No Bella – perfect," said Edward pushing his pajama bottoms down. I pulled down my panties and waited for him to push directly into me.

"Oh Edward," I said as he started to move in me.

"Shh Love," Edward whispering in my ear, "You'll wake up the kids."

"Ahh," I replied unable to say anything else he started to kiss my neck again and moved in me.

"Edward," I whispered again, thankful that the kids were still in the cribs, wrapping my legs tightly around him.

"Bella," he moaned a little himself, finding his release while tweaking my clit to help find mine.

"Ahh," I cried out forgetting that we had two small people in the apartment.

We rested our heads against each other to see if our escapade had woken up the babies. Fortunately they seemed to still be asleep. Like a couple of teenagers we got dress quickly and I started to get ready for work. Like I said a much better start to the week.

I put on my freshly cleaned suit and left my apartment early for the conference. At the office I was the first one there so I grabbed the packets and started to place them in the correct order. After that I called up the caterer to confirm the lunch delivery. Lauren came in and we headed to the hotel to pick up the conference patrons in the bus.

We got to the hotel by 8:00 and started organizing the conference attendees. Luck seemed to be smiling at me, as the bus we hired was ready for us on the proper side of the street and by 9:00 everyone was where they were supposed to be. At 9:30 the conference began, I sat in the back to take minutes. Everything went smoothly, I even had time to confirm the shuttle would take everyone back to the airport. The caterer texted me to confirm that lunch was on the way and Angela set it up for me in the adjoining dining room.

Everything went smoothly until around 1:30. During the lunch break, one of the attendees, Dr. Lewis came up to me. "I'm sorry to bother you but I have a bit of problem," she explained, "I have a 8 month old at home and I'm still pumping. Is there a place where I could go?"

"Ah been there, done that," I replied thinking of the six months I pumped milk in the bathroom, "We don't have a pumping room here but you could use my office. It has an lock."

"That would be great – you don't mind," she asked.

"No – not at all," I told Dr. Lewis, Lauren was in a closed meeting with Jessica for the next hour.

"Thanks," she said, as I took her down the hall to my office. I helped her set up the machine and returned back to the conference.

Lauren came back about 20 minutes later. "Hey have you seen Dr. Lewis," she asked.

"Yeah – she's in our office. She had an errand she needed to do," I replied, not wanting to go into the reason.

"Oh Jessica was looking for her – she wanted to go over an idea she just had," Lauren explained.

"She should be done with her errand in about 10 minutes," I told her.

"Why would she be done in 10 minutes," Jessica asked coming up.

"She needed to express some milk," I explained, "so I offered her my office since it had a lock."

Jessica turned a bright red and hissed, "What do you mean she's pumping milk in your office? That what bathrooms are for!"

"I'm sorry I just thought we would try and accommodate the guests," I said starting to feel sick.

"Get this straight right now," Jessica told me in a clipped tone I hadn't heard from her yet, "This is not a daycare. We do not accommodate children. Any parent and this includes you Bella need to make their own arrangements. We are not a breast pumping station, we do not have bring your child to work day, and if your kid has a germ you better stay at home. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes," I replied, quietly. Lauren and Rose looked at me sympathetically.

"Good – have Dr. Lewis meet us back at the conference," Jessica her tone changing again, almost like a 2 year old having a tantrum.

Dr. Lewis came out a couple of minutes later and thanked me for the use of the space. By her tone it was clear that she overheard Jessica's rant. I waved it off and escorted her back to the conference. The rest of the conference went smoothly without any more problems. Jessica even thanked me as she left for the day. Angela and Rose offered to take the guests back airport for me.

I sent Lauren home and boxed up everything with Emmett. Jessica gave me permission to leave once everything was finished so I took advantage of that and left at 5. When I walked through the door fortunately it was to a calm house and just Edward. He had relieved Lisa early and had made dinner. It was nice he even had a glass of wine waiting for me.

"Hey – how did it go," Edward asked, kissing my cheek while both kids toddled up to me.

"Okay for the most part," I told him as we sat down at the table.

"What happened," Edward asked.

I explained the breast pumping debacle. "Let me get this straight – she threw a fit because you allowed a conference member to use your office as a breast pumping station?" Edward asked in disbelief.

"Yup and I got a lecture about being a working mom," I answered dryly, "I don't know what I'm going to do Edward."

That was the wrong thing to say because Edward's face fell. I was the only one working at the moment. A year ago he would have told me to quit and take my time finding something else. Given my tirade on Friday he now knew how frustrated I was.

"Hey," I said, "This is not a dig on you. I walked into this job with my eyes wide open."

"Yeah but you didn't know she was this bad," Edward replied, "Bella get what you need and get out. I'll take the first job with a decent salary."

"Anymore bites," I asked.

"My dad suggested this head hunter," he replied, "I have an appointment tomorrow."

"Well then things are starting to look up," I said. Carlisle had a lot of contacts. I'm sure that anyone he had for Edward would be a good lead.

_**AN: Anyone think that Jessica was a little out of bounds or justified? That little scene actually happened to me – I had a boss who was not particularly fond of kids or working moms. She lost it because I let someone who was attending her conference use my office to pump. I won't even go into what she said when another colleague's husband bother in their daughter for a couple of minutes in a stroller.**_

_**This was not met to be a dig on anyone who has chosen not to have kids. Being a parent a myself, I understand its not for everyone and I apologize if I accidently offended everyone.**_

_**Thank you everyone for taking the time to read, review, favorite, follow this story. I'm sorry for the delay between chapters no excuse other then life making me exhausted.**_

_**You know what they say – the road to hell is paved with good intentions**_


	9. Chapter 8: A Trip to Remember…

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight related…_

**Chapter 8: A Trip to Remember…**

Other then Jessica's tantrum on Monday, the rest of the week went well. I had one snide comment from Lauren regarding the conference invoices.

The following morning after the conference I started to get the receipts from the attendees. Lauren got a number of them as well. She dropped them on my desk as she got them. "You know how to reconcile them," she asked like she was teaching me the alphabet.

At this point I had been working them for a couple of hours. I turned my monitor slightly so she could see what I was doing. "Good enough for you," I asked back, tired of her holier then thou attitude.

"Yeah – looks fine – just make sure your math adds up," Lauren replied.

I turned my chair around. "Lauren what's my title," I asked her.

"You're the grants manager," she answered.

"What's your title," I replied.

"I'm the senior research assistant," she said.

"So how does that org chart read," I asked, irritated that I had to resort to pulling rank but I was freaking tired of Lauren's attitude. She wasn't my boss.

Lauren just flounced out. Since Jessica wasn't in I knew Lauren wasn't going to her.

She came back a couple of minutes later. "Look," Lauren said, "I know how I'm coming off but Jessica is a bitch to work for. Anytime something goes wrong I hear about it."

"Understood – Lauren if you want to review the numbers with me, I'm all for it," I told her, "But I understand the concepts. Are we on the same page?"

"Yeah – do you mind I look at them with you later? Jessica wants to review it this weekend with the minutes," Lauren explained.

"No problem – just let me know in the future and I'll have the information for you," I replied.

Things stayed at an impasse until I left for Philadelphia a few weeks later. It was November 16, 2008. I had been working for Jessica for six weeks at this point and it had been an education. She seemed okay with the work I was doing so far but I noticed she had a bad habit of mixing up her times. For instance she would tell me that that she had a conference call at 2:00 Pacific Standard Time what she really met to say was 2:00 Eastern Standard Time. The first few times she did this, she would call me and ask me where the call was. After the 3rd time she did that I got smart and just called the other party's secretary to get the correct information.

The Friday before my trip I printed out Jessica's schedule for the three days I would be gone. I included my numbers to the hotel and my cell phone so she could get ahold of me. In my email to her, I reminded her that I would be bringing my laptop so she could email me any assignments that required immediate attention.

I reminded Lauren right before I left that I was running out the door.

"Okay – Lauren – remember – I'm going to be in Philly from Monday to Wednesday," I said, "I have the folder Jessica needs on her desk."

"Ok," she replied, looking bored.

"Thanks," I replied heading out and catching the train home.

I spent the Saturday getting ready for the trip. It was supposed to be an amazing day on Sunday so Edward and I decided to walk down to Penn Station from our apartment. Esme and Carlisle had babysat for us the night before so Edward and I could go see a movie. There was a six dollar theater by our building that showed older movies.

After a romantic night, we left for Penn Station after breakfast as I was planning to catch the noon train to Philly. The twins napped as I pushed them and Edward had my bag. It had been a long time since we had the chance to spend time by ourselves and this was nice. We had the opportunity to just to chat with each other over the hour walk. I always loved spending time with Edward just talking. He was the smartest man I ever had the pleasure of knowing.

We arrived at Penn Station before lunch. He and the twins stayed with me until it was time for them to leave. I arrived in Philadelphia at 3:00 in the afternoon. While the hospital was reimbursing me for the conference I wanted to keep the bills down. So after I called Edward to check in, I took the subway down to the hotel, bypassing the cab line.

After I checked in, I went to where the conference was being held to sign in and get my paperwork. By the time I was done it was 5:00 so I decided to walk around the city a little bit to see some of the sites. I got to Rittenhouse Square and the Liberty Bell before I decided to call it a night. To avoid a room service charge I grabbed a hoagie from a sandwich shop on the way back.

The next morning I checked in with Edward one more time and got to the conference at 7:30 am. I opened my laptop and started checking email. One of Jessica's more interesting quirks was her distrust of Outlook. She was convinced that the university was watching her calendar and wanted everyone to use a specific a Yahoo calendar. It had taken a few weeks to convince her that Outlook was safe and that if the university really wanted to they could audit her logs. Emmett was very helpful in explaining the mystery behind IT.

One of the reasons I was pushing for using our hospital emails was that we needed to be linked together and so far Jessica had been neutral to the idea. I checked my email while waiting for the conference to begin. After the keynote speaker started the introductions my cell phone started to buzz.

The caller id announced Jessica so I went into the lobby to answer it.

"Hello – this is Bella," I answered.

"Bella," Jessica replied, "Where are you?"

"Uh – Philadelphia," I answered.

"Why didn't you notify me," Jessica asked coldly, "And why did Lauren have to tell me?"

"I told you right before the conference," I said stuttering a little. It was a nervous habit that came back from childhood when I was caught off guard.

"I would have remembered that," Jessica retorted.

"Jessica I emailed you before I left on Friday," I answered her, feeling the tears build up in my eyes.

"Well I didn't see it until today. We'll discuss when you get back Thursday," Jessica told me coldly, "And you should have at least told Lauren."

"Jessica – I included Lauren in that email. She's supposed be my coverage," I replied close to tears, "I swear – I even left a folder but you both. I spoke with her before I left on Friday."

Jessica continued like I hadn't said anything. "You're going to have to do some assignments while you're away," she continued, "I'm going to email you a list."

With that she hung up the phone. I stood there like an idiot staring at my cell, wondering the hell I should have done. Getting my wits about me, I walked back to the conference and opened my laptop up. I gaped when I saw the number of things she wanted me to complete before I got back from the conference. There was no way I was going to be able to do this and pass the exam. I turned on the recorder on my cell phone to tape the lectures so I could listen during the off hours.

That became the pattern for my conference. I would work on Jessica's assignments and then listen to the lectures I missed at night and complete the projects due so I could get the certification done. In between that I would call Edward and check in on him and the children. Sleep because my sacrifice as I struggled to get everything done. By day three I was worshiping the coffee maker in my room as I emailed my last assignment to the proctor.

It was a good thing that I emailed the assignment before I left the hotel because when I got back to the conference and reopened my computer I heard a whirling sound and something that sounded suspiciously like a fuse blowing. My screen had a flash of light and then was black. Calmly, I closed down my laptop and then rebooted it. No sound. I knew enough abut computers to know that I had probably blown my motherboard. There was no way that I would be able to complete anything else.

I grabbed my blackberry and called Jessica. It was directly to voicemail. I explained that my computer was down and I wouldn't have any internet access until I got home tonight and that I was calling Lauren to give a run down of any remaining tasks. After I hung up with Jessica, I called Lauren.

"Hello," she groaned. A hear some guy in the background moan. Awesome I thought, I was breaking up her little hookup.

"Lauren, it's Bella," I said, "Listen my computer is broken, I think the motherboard blew so I can't access anything right now."

"What – you've got to be kidding me," she squealed, "Listen you need to go and out get a new computer."

I looked at my phone and wondered if I could send electronic shocks through it. I guess when your parents send you new credit cards to support your lifestyle, buying a new computer on the fly made perfect sense.

"Lauren – I don't have that kind of money. Listen I finished everything last night. The only thing left that needs to be put together is the thank you note from the conference. It just needs to be proofread," I explained.

"I don't have time for that," Lauren snapped, "Are you sure that you can't just buy a new computer."

"Yes – I'm sure unless you have a credit card for me to use," I snapped bad tired of this girl's attitude.

"Fine – I'll try to do this later but you'll probably have to do it tomorrow," Lauren replied slamming the phone in my ear.

I shook my head and popped a couple of Advil. Once my raging headache subsided, I send an email with my blackberry to explain I was computerless until tomorrow. The conference went until noon and the proctors gave us our certifications at the end. I grabbed my bag and took the subway up to the train. There was a cold rain covering the east coast and I was hoping that Edward would pick me up from the station.

I got out of Penn Station when I hit New York and looked around hoping to see Edward. Realizing he wasn't coming, I went back inside the station and took the subway back to my block. By the time I got home I was soaking wet and exhausted. On the walk back, I got berated by Jessica for not buying a new computer and informed me that I was not to give Lauren any tasks without her approval. For a moment I wondered if Jessica bothered to read her organizational chart and if she understood what collaboration met. Especially when I covered for Lauren during a telephone conference so she could have drinks with some law student.

The only thing I wanted when I got back home was a semi-clean home and a bubble bath and maybe two calm children. I knew I was pushing it with the calm children part. But I was hoping for the semi-clean home. No such luck, I walked through the door and the twins came toddling up to me immediately.

"Mama, Mama," they called to see who would get there first.

"Hey kids," I said kneeling down to them. Lisa was standing behind me looking fried.

I picked them up and realized that the house was a mess. There were clothes and toys everywhere. I was scared to look at the kitchen. "Hi Lisa," I said looking at the girl.

"I'm so sorry Mrs. Cullen – I meant to get everything done but I couldn't with the kids," she started to explain.

"It's okay Lisa," I replied, "Where is Mr. Cullen?"

"I don't know he said had to some friends to meet for work," she explained, "Uh Mrs. Cullen I've been working a lot of extra hours."

"Okay," I said, wondering where this was going.

"And that's cool and all but I haven't been paid for it," she said finally.

"You haven't gotten a check," I replied in horror. Edward was supposed to pay her last week.

"Yeah," she added, "Mr. Cullen forgot to pay me and my rent is due."

"Let me get you a check right now," I told her, handing over Geoff and went to get my checkbook. I went into the kitchen and that was a mess too. It was filled with dishes.

After I handed Lisa her check she asked if she could leave to cash it. I wasn't okay with the state of the house since part of her job was to clean up the toys before she left but I realized taking a closer look, a lot of that mess was Edward's. In fact it was looking a guy's dorm room. That said something since Edward was normally neater then me. But I was as frustrated as hell as I surveyed everything and my exhausted nanny.

"See you tomorrow," I said finally and Lisa left.

I looked around and decided to feed the kids. There was McDonalds at the corner and even through Edward hated it and had memorized Super Size me, I decided to take the twins there for dinner. Given the toxic state of my kitchen I was sure Mickey D's was healthier at the moment.

We went down and I grabbed couple of Happy Meals for the kids and got them settled. Once they were in bed I started trying to clean up the place. I got about halfway through the living room when Edward finally came home.

"Hey baby," he said coming to me, "How was your trip?"

"Edward," I replied coldly pushing him off. At least he didn't smell like a brewery this time.

Edward realized I wasn't happy to see him. "What's the matter," he asked.

"Are you kidding me," I exploded, the frustration finally erupting, "I was gone for three days Edward – three days and this place is filthy!"

"We got a little excited sweetie – I promise – it will clean by tomorrow," Edward said trying to appease me, "Listen I got your favorite."

I looked at his hand and realized he had gotten my favorite sushi. Which was very expensive. Very, very expensive. "Edward," I said exasperated, "We need to cut back! For Christ's sake I'm the only one working! You didn't pay Lisa – I had to do that! You been out at the bars! You're taking cabs everywhere!"

"I'm sorry – I thought you would like it," he replied coldly, "Bella – you know networking is a major part of my industry." My comment of being the only working got to him obviously.

I took anther deep breath and continued, "I get that networking happens in your industry but have you thought about working with a head hunter or just hitting the want ads? Edward we can't afford the country club or the bar hopping that you're doing."

I knew how shrill I was sounding and that I was becoming that nagging wife I swore that I would never be but that was what was happening.

Edward looked at sharply and took a deep breath. "I'll make you a deal – let me keep the membership until the 1st of the year and if nothing comes out of it, I'll drop it," he said finally.

"Okay – deal," I told him, feeling a little better.

"I'm sorry about the house – I really had a plan to have it cleaned up before you got home," Edward said coming over, "Why don't you sit down and let me what happened.

"Thank you," I replied and told him the whole story from when Jessica forgot about me going to my computer breaking down and my meeting with tomorrow with her. I even through in taking Geoff and Sophie for Happy Meals.

"You took the kids to get that crap," Edward asked making a face. Health Nazi, I thought making a face. Edward thought better to make a comment about my dietary choices that evening.

"I'm sorry Bella – I know you had real high hopes about this job," Edward said sincerely.

"Thanks," I told him, his support met the world to me.

_**AN: Hmm – I think that Bella better watch her back. Lauren doesn't have any compunction about selling her out.**_

_**The conference story actually happened to me as well. My boss forgot that I went and called me up to berate me. A little tip – Outlook records everything – that time stamp came in handy when I needed to prove when I posted it. My computer did crash but my husband did pick me up from the train station and my house wasn't a mess. **___

_**Thanks everyone for reading – sorry about the delay in chapters – my job has been kicking my butt lately. Thank you everyone for taking the time to read/review/favorite/follow this story.**_


	10. Chapter 10

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight Related…_

**Chapter 9: Crossroads…**

The next morning I arrived to the office feeling sick to my stomach. When I logged into my email I had a message from Jessica questioning the validity of my computer situation. Needless to say I hadn't slept well and thoughts of what was about to be said were dancing in my head.

I was the first one and there was a note on my monitor reminding me to water the plants from Lauren. Sighing, I grabbed the watering can Jessica had brought me and went to the bathroom to fill it. Lauren gave a withering look when she walked in and ignored me.

I guess she got the brunt of Jessica's mood when I was away. Wondering if I should apologize to Lauren I printed out the emails I knew that I was going to need when I saw Jessica later. Then I thought better. This girl who thought I should have ran out and buy a new computer because she was inconvenienced.

"I didn't get to the notes. You're going to have to do it, and you need it make sure they're in the mail and at the sites before Thanksgiving," Lauren said snidely without turning around.

"Okay," I replied, pulling up the template in Word.

Jessica came in an hour later. "Bella – my office now," she replied not even looking at me.

Sighing, I got up a again and walked into her office.

"Care to explain what happened," she asked sitting in her desk.

"Like I explained earlier, I was in the conference for my certification," I replied, giving her the documentation.

Jessica reviewed the paperwork I gave her, including the highlighted date/time stamps and after a moment said, "you need to remind me and Lauren when you go away for things."

"I did," I said pointing out the paperwork, "I sent out an email to you both with a detailed away plan."

"You should have told me last week," Jessica replied, my refusal to not take responsibility for her mishap was grating on her nerves.

I decided to cut my losses since because when everything was said and done, she was the boss and had the power to screw me over. "My apologies," I said, even through I had told her last Wednesday but she obviously forgot.

"Great – now let's get work," she said brightening up immediately, "We need to work on my carry over report for the NIH. This was way we can afford the new research assistant and a part-time secretary to help you out with the paperwork."

"Really," I asked surprised, she had been adamant about me doing everything.

"Yes – one thing I learned this week was the amount of work you did," Jessica said shaking her head, "It's a huge and I need you focused on the budget and operations."

"Great," I replied, "I got started in Philadelphia – I can have the report to you this afternoon."

"Perfect," Jessica said, "Actually make it tomorrow morning – I have leave for a symposium. By the way did you finish your certification?"

"I have another class in the Spring," I explained, "Then I should be good."

"You mean you have to go away again," she asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes – probably for the same time. It's in Philadelphia," I answered.

Jessica frowned again. "I don't like it," she said finally, "Is there any way you could you do this online?"

"They need to proctor the exams in person," I told her.

"I'll have to talk to Jason about this. But before you go you need to make sure the new secretary is trained," Jessica said.

"No problem – I can do that," I replied. It was like I had never trained anyone before. I just needed to make sure I was buffered between that person and Jessica.

If only it had been that easy. Looking back I should have seen this as the beginning of the end. Once I got back to my desk I started to work on the financial statements. Around the early afternoon I realized something wasn't right. The numbers just weren't adding up. Finally I got up and walked into Jessica's office.

"Jessica something isn't right," I explained sitting down, "We're missing some invoices."

"That can't be right," Jessica replied, "Let's get Lauren in."

"Okay," I agreed, as Lauren was the historical person on the grant.

"Lauren can you come in please," Jessica called the intercom.

Lauren burst in like Captain America couple of minutes later. ""What's the matter," she asked sitting down.

"Bella was just telling me that you missed some invoices. What do you think about that," Jessica demanded.

My jaw and Lauren's dropped. I sure as hell didn't say that. "Actually I meant to say that I think we might be missing some invoices," I replied, as Lauren shot me an acid filled look.

"Well maybe your math is off," Lauren said snidely.

"Why don't we review the spreadsheet – I think we just maybe missing some paperwork," I replied hoping to reduce the tension.

We spent the next hour looking at the figures when Lauren finally said, "I know what's wrong – we're missing the invoices from the Spring meeting. You know the ones from Misty?"

"Oh – yeah – I had forgotten – where are they now," Jessica asked.

"Whose Misty," I replied confused.

"Your job – she was before Keisha," Lauren said, "She was even worse then Keisha."

Both her and Jessica burst into laughter like it was funniest thing in the world. For a moment I was reminded of that movie Mean Girls. "Where are the invoices now," I asked.

"Oh – they should be in the filing cabinet – I'll get them," Lauren said.

"See there are you are Bella – there's no problem now," Jessica said turning back to her computer.

"Okay," I said getting up, as Lauren came back in with a purple folder.

"Here you are," she said sugar sweet and then whispered in so Jessica couldn't hear, "Don't you ever try and backstab me again!"

My eyes widen, "Lauren, I swear," I started to say as we walked in the hallway, "I never said anything like that."

"You can cut the sweet innocence act Bella, I know your type. You went to a public university, did some night school for your master's degree. You've been the secretarial pool for a few years and grabbed this job so you could get out. I've been through 3 of you and I'm still here. Don't fuck with me. Don't use me to save your ass because remember when it comes down to it Jessica is always going to believe me over you," Lauren seethed at me.

I stood there, essentially stunned into silence. And I thought Jessica was psycho.

After Lauren's outburst, I went to my office and got back to work. Jessica stopped in to say good night and Lauren was getting ready to leave. She made it clear since I had to cover for me she was going to leave early.

The invoices she had given me helped but I realized that there was still a huge discrepancy. "Lauren," I asked finally praying I wasn't about to get head bitten off again.

"What," she asked bored.

"Were these the only invoices," I asked her.

"Yeah – don't worry the whole thing should add up now," she replied like I was the vain of her existence and maybe I was.

"Okay but this is still not adding up," I told her, "Are you sure you gave everything?"

"Are you accusing me," Lauren asked hotly.

"No – of course not," I replied, "I just need to know."

"I don't have anything and I'm done covering for your ass. You're the grants manager you figure it out. Remember – look at the org chart," Lauren said repeating what I had said last week.

Awkward, I thought, shaking my head. Then a thought occurred to me, I had looked at everything but the actual salary calculation. Federal grants are calculated based off the award date. There are four cycles and the salaries and indirect cost are prorated based on that information.

I hadn't thought to look at that since the grant was in it's 3rd year. A mistake like should have been caught during the 1st year. However when you looked at everything that could be wrong and didn't find anything, you needed to look at the areas that you thought were right. A few minutes I found my answer. Jessica was using salary calculates based off her UCLA award during a different award period.

In other words she had been basing her budget off the wrong figures. It was the equivalent of budgeting for a Hyundai and buying a Mercedes. An hour later I had everything figured out. Given the severity I called Jessica. I figured that she would like to know immediately.

"Jessica – I found the issue," I said when she answered the phone and explained the situation. Almost immediately, she brushed it off.

"Bella – that's ridiculous – we would have caught that sooner. You're worrying to much – we'll review tomorrow," Jessica replied with her Shirley Temple laugh and hung up the phone. I could hear her company in the background, her mind was obviously not on her grant.

I listened to the dial tone and realized I needed to talk to Cindy about this. She was the department head and need to know. I called her and we agreed to meet tomorrow morning to review everything before Jessica got in. I didn't like it but I got the impression the only way Jessica ever listened to bad news was it you got in her face about it.

Leaving work feeling even more depressed if that was possible, my head exploded right before I got on the train. I grabbed my medicine and chugged it down. We were going to my folks for Thanksgiving and wondered if I could buy a giant bottle at Costco while I was there.

It started to kick up right before I made it to my apartment. I was pleasantly surprised to see a beautifully cleaned apartment and dinner waiting for me. "Edward," I called out.

"Hey babe – just a second we're finishing tubby time," he called out from the bathroom.

Taking off my shoes I walked into the bathroom and saw my naked twins and fully clothed husband covered in bubbles. I could help but laugh when I saw my 33 year husband clearly losing the bath time battle to a couple of toddlers.

"Could you use some help," I asked dryly by the door.

"I wouldn't advise that in your pretty suit," he laughed at himself in the mirror, "Get changed and come back. Or I could give you a bath?"

Edward winked wolfishly and I couldn't help but laugh. Taking his advice I got changed into my pajamas and walked back to help him.

Together we got Sophie and Geoff ready for bed and read them stories. Edward had saved dinner for us so we could have adult time together.

I poured us each a glass of wine as he got the plates ready. "So I got some good news today," Edward said finally.

"What – you won Powerball and we can retire," I replied dryly.

"Hah – I wish – I would be buying us a villa in Tuscany if that was the case. No – my old boss really had something for me," Edward said, "He's starting a company called 'Rent a CFO'."

I nearly choked on my wine. "Please tell this isn't some stripper venture," I asked.

Edward laughed. "No that was my first reaction too. It's for small businesses that need a person for a short time to those duties like financial reports, long term projects, etc," Edward explained, "It's not full time –"

"But it's something," I finished, "Okay – well when does he think he'll have something for you?"

"That's the thing – it's in the infancy stage," Edward replied, "Realistically it won't be a lot of work for a while and what's there is sparse."

"It's a start," I said, "So wanna hear about my day? I got a dozey for you."

After I finished explaining to Edward he just shook his head. "Are you sure about you found," Edward asked.

I nodded. "I have the feeling that if I don't meet with Cindy, Jessica is going to blow this off. I'm guessing that's how she's gotten away with it before," I explained, "Do you think that you could maybe take a look at the numbers?"

"Sure," he said, "Are the spreadsheets in your bag?"

"Yeah – I'll get them for you," I said getting up, "By the way nice job on the house."

Edward smiled bashfully. "Thanks – I wanted to made it for yesterday," he said putting the dishes in the sink.

"You did a great job," I told him, handing him the paperwork.

Edward sat down and started to review the information. About an hour later he looked up at me. "Bella you need to keep that appointment tomorrow. This is a federal grant, if Jessica blows this off then you're as liable as her if you knew about it and didn't report to the financial officer," Edward told me.

"Crap – I was hoping you won't say that," I replied, feeling ill. Jessica was going to flip but since I look hideous in orange, jail would not be a good move for me.

_**AN: So think that Bella is doing the right thing going over her boss' head? And how do you think her boss is going to react?**_

_**Thanks to everyone for taking the time read/review/favorite/follower this story!**_


	11. Chapter 11

_Disclaimer: I don't own anything Twilight related…_

**Chapter 10: The Truth Hurts**

After a prep talk from Edward and a promise from me that I would his family's dinner that evening on time, I called Cindy who agreed to meet me first thing in the morning. I left for work about 30 minutes earlier then usual as I wanted to make sure that I avoided anyone in the office. I didn't even bother to drop my things off I just went directly to Cindy's office.

"Bella – how was the conference," Cindy asked when she met outside her office.

"Hectic," I replied and explained the email disaster.

Cindy shook her had in disgust. "I knew I should have reminded her – she acts that way whenever someone goes away. Especially her assistants," she said.

"That's not why I'm here," I said quietly and showed her the analysis, "I don't know how this was missed before but I think the reasons her numbers have been all over the place was due to proper rates not matching the award schedule."

Cindy looked over the schedule and visibly paled. "Oh good Christ we've been wondering all this time why she has so much carryover," she muttered. She grabbed her calculator and started to work on the figures.

That was one thing about accounting. The sides always had to match each other. It didn't work if the funds didn't cancel each other out.

"Well," I asked after Cindy was done, "Am I crazy or borderline incompetent?"

Cindy shook her head slowly. "No," she said finally, "Jessica always did her figures. She wouldn't let us look."

I felt sick and I'm sure Cindy was feeling worse. "What's the next step," I asked quietly, knowing it needed to be discussed with Jessica.

"We need to speak with Jessica when she comes in," she said quietly, dialing her phone, "Jessica, it's Cindy you need to stop by my office when you come in. Really – that's fine I can meet in you in yours."

Cindy quietly put down the phone, ignoring Jessica's protests. Then she looked at me. "Okay – after you," she signed.

I nodded and we went to the office suite. I ignored Lauren's surprised look when I entered with Cindy and placed my things down on my desk. Jessica came in a couple of minutes later. I had no doubt that Lauren had texted her.

"Jessica," Cindy said, "I need to speak with you right now."

"Ok, well just give me a moment and I'm sure I can clear up what ever is bothering you," Jessica said coquettishly.

"No – let's go in your office, Bella, you're coming too," Cindy informed her.

"I'm sure we don't need Bella," Jessica replied.

"Yes we do need Bella – she's the grants manager and found a major discrepancy," Cindy retorted.

"Fine – Lauren come too," Jessica said flouncing in.

Cindy just shook her head. We sat down and pulled out the spreadsheets I had prepared with Cindy's cross-reference. By the time we done, Jessica was very pale. "There has to be some mistake – Lauren – didn't you fix this during the last budget period," Jessica said quietly.

My eyes bulged – I had been under the impression that Jessica had done the accounting with my processor. She and Lauren had been working this together. Oh My God.

"They were right – we double checked them," Lauren said turning red. I guess it surprised her that someone from public university caught her mistakes.

"You're lucky Bella caught this and not some government auditor," Cindy said.

The way Jessica was pursing her lips I had to disagree. "We need to go through this right now," she seethed, grabbing the paperwork and slamming it down.

Two hours later both Jessica and Lauren had to concede. "We need to rework the budget," Cindy explained, "You're going to have to paid back the government or transfer salaries to another grant."

"I'll let you know my decision," Jessica said obviously dismissing Cindy.

"Okay – I'll look forward to your proposal," she said and got up to leave.

I wasn't sure if I should get up and leave because of the looks I was getting from Jessica. "Do you want me to leave," I asked quietly, wondering if she wanted a minute to herself.

She shook her head and said, "Lauren you can go."

Lauren got up and followed Cindy out. Cindy gave me one last look of sympathy before she closed the door.

Jessica looked at me as red as a tomato. "Bella, I thought we had an understanding," she said finally. Her tone made me wonder if this was what the snake sounded like to Eve before she bit into the apple.

"You were supposed to come me when issues arise," she continued tapping her thumb on her desk, "Not go to administration."

I blanched, given that I had not been the one to make the mistake and that I had tried to show her the information. Realizing that Jessica fully intended to shot the messenger, I tried to defend myself. Big mistake. "Jessica with all due respect I tried to contact you last night," I started to say.

She raised her hand to stop me. "You could have waited until this morning," she replied, "and I could have figured out a way to fix this."

My mouth gaped wondering what she met by that statement. Math was math you couldn't get creative unless you wanted to up behind bars. And the defense my boss made me do it went out with Enron. I wondered if she would have tried to do something like that if a result from her study came back and didn't support the data. I shuddered at the thought.

"You can't fix that," I protested, "We have fiduciary responsibility to report these problems to the NIH."

Once the words left my mouth I realized I was fucked. I just wished I could go back and reword what I had just said. Jessica didn't like honesty, especially when it was blunt. The look she was giving me made me realized that I was in trouble.

"I'm sorry what I mean to say was that I didn't mean to go over your head," I said, feeling the blood rush out of my head.

Jessica nodded stiffly. "Well now we need to fix this mess you created so what I want you to do is removed that secretary we talked about. You need figure out a way to keep that research assistant," she replied.

"Jessica – we already have 6 research assistants," I started to protest again.

"Your point? We need someone who can collect the data," Jessica replied, "And Lauren is too busy to do it."

"Okay," I replied, feeling defeated. I knew this was going to take the better part of the day to complete.

"You're not leaving until I look it over," she told me, "I need to know if the information is good enough so you better call your babysitter."

I nodded stiffly realizing I was in for a long day. And Jessica didn't disappoint me. Once I was back at my desk and immersed myself in the work. Lauren kept looking over myself to see what I doing periodically. I had feeling Jessica told her to keep an eye on my movements to make sure I wasn't contacting anyone in administration.

She offered to get me a sandwich during lunch. I had a feeling this was her way of apologizing but I declined. Rose and Angela took pity on me and grabbed me a hot dog from on the vendors outside.

I had to make dinner at Tony's by 6:30 and I knew I was going to be pushing it was. Edward really wanted me to make it on time. Garrett had gotten a promotion and Edward knew his parents were going to be fawning all over him. By 3:45 I had finished all the changes and made the necessary adjustments. I had even found a way to keep the research assistant even through the part time secretary was a thing of the past. To be on the safe side I had Cindy take a look at it. I had emailed it to her while Lauren had been on a bathroom break. Cindy assured me it looked fine.

I doubled checked everything one more time and forward it to Jessica. "Hello," I heard a bored voice on the phone.

"Jessica – it's done and waiting for your review," I told her feeling the adrenalin start to die down. If she reviewed it right away I could be out there and on the train by 6.

"I'll look at it in a minute," she replied. I heard Lauren's line ring. I guess Jessica wanted her security blanket before she reviewed.

Lauren picked up and the phone said, "Okay – be right there Jessica."

By 5:00 I realized that Jessica was just fucking with me. Not the type of fucking that made straight men giggle with glee. Not it was the kind of psychotic screw fest that Stephen King wrote about. She knew that I had to leave here at 5:00 to meet my babysitter normally. At 5:30 I started to panic. This was her way of showing who was in charge and I had no say in how this was going down.

By 5:45 I called. "What," she asked.

"Did you need me to clarify anything with you," I asked quietly.

"No – I'm still reviewing what you provided me. I'll call you shortly," Jessica replied, hanging up the phone.

Cursing, I grabbed my blackberry and sent Edward text saying I was going to be late.

Finally at 6:15, Jessica called me in. "Have this to Cindy on Monday," she replied distantly.

"Do you need anything clarification," I asked, "You were reviewing it for a while."

"No but I meant what I said Bella – you can only serve one master," Jessica told me, "If you ever pull a stunt like that again I will be to reconsider our relationship."

"But Jessica – you weren't listening to me last night," I protested.

"You should have waited until this morning," she answered and hung up the phone.

I stared the receiver and heard the ping on my Outlook signaling that I now had a new message. Cursing, I pulled up the email and realized she made a number of corrections to the paperwork I submitted to her. I was going to make sure that they matched before I set it to Cindy.

By 7:00 I had verified everything and grabbed a cab against my better judgment. I got to Tony's at 7:15 – fortunately traffic was on my side for a change. However the reception waiting for me was not. I ran in there and it was very obvious that Edward was not happy. His parents looked slightly annoyed that I was late and Garrett and Tanya just looked smug with their sons. Only Melody and Geoff looked happy to see me.

"Mama," the squealed waving their little arms around.

"Hi sweeties," I said bending down to kiss their heads.

Edward just gave me a hard smile as I sat down.

"Burning the middle night oil, Bella," Garrett boomed in his big voice.

"Something like that," I replied.

"Wine," Esme asked, in that same clipped tone that her son had.

"Thank you," I said holding my glass.

Edward poured a glass for me silently, indicating how pissed he was. A closer look at him showed that his pinks were slightly pink. Another clue that he had been drinking for a while.

"Just a half glass please," I told him, thinking that one of us needed to be sober.

"You got it," he replied.

"So Bella you just missed the announcement," Tanya said purring, stroking her husband's arm.

"What's that," I asked assuming she met Garrett's promotion. Given how sensitive Edward was being, I didn't want to say anything.

"I'm going to Milan to do a show – isn't that wonderful," she replied in her pseudo European accent.

"Wow – congratulations," I replied automatically. That wasn't news – Tanya's work took her all over the world. She had been to Milan more times that I could count. I think she did that so she could play the "poor provincial Bella" game. I refused to rise to the bait.

"Yeah – with my promotion and Tanya's little venture – we're going to have a great Christmas," Garrett replied tactlessly. I just stared at him wondering how he could be so insensitive with his brother sitting right here. Here we were wondering how we were going to pay for Christmas and Garrett was bragging about what he was going to buy his kids. Edward was fuming at this point.

"Well Edward got some good news too – did you tell them honey," I asked, squeezing his forearm.

"My old boss offered me a job in his new agency," Edward said humorlessly shooting daggers in my direction.

"Oh really Edward – that's wonderful – why didn't you tell us?" Esme asked.

"Doing what son," Carlisle asked.

"I'm a CFO in a box," Edward answered taking a swig of his wine.

"What the fuck is that," Garrett asked confused. Now it was my turn to glare. I didn't care what he taught his kids but I didn't what mine cursing like a sailor.

"Language," Esme scolded.

"Basically small businesses contact with my boss and I go in and do the functions that a CFO would do like financial statements," Edward explained to his dimwitted brother.

Everyone stared Edward like they had no idea what to say. I wish I had never brought it up. Then Garrett spoke up. That idiot really had no tack. "Holy shit – that's priceless man – you're like a temp," he shouted.

I had enough of him demeaning Edward. "You know a number of companies contract for this service – it's a pretty lucrative market," I replied challenging him.

The look on his face said he was up for it. If there was one thing that Garrett liked was verbal sparring especially when he thought he'd get a good kill in. And normally I didn't rise to the challenge.

"And what are you basing your conclusion on," Garrett asked, grinning.

"Simple," I replied, "During the last recession in '92 small businesses make the majority recovery. Corporations at the moment are heavily distrusted. Small business is going to see a surge and often do some of the most innovative work. They don't have the resources for a traditional CFO. But they have the need especially if they want to stay competitive in the market. People with Edward's experience are especially valuable. The most creative work is often seen during recessions. "

Garrett and the rest of the table looked at me flabbergasted. I sat there feeling a little smug for a minute. Only a minute.

"Anything to back it up," Garrett asked.

"Forbes – I read an article in it," I told him

"Like that chick in Working Girl," he asked referring to the Melanie Griffith character.

"Ah hah," I replied dryly, as Edward snickered, "just like her."

"She was from Jersey too wasn't she," Garrett said.

"No she was from Staten Island," I fumed. Asshole. They were two different places. Edward like he did every time some reminded him where I was from.

"Same thing," Tanya replied, taking a sip of her martini, "Not Manhattan."

Fortunately that round of torture ended and the conversation turned back Tanya's trip where she asked Edward if he wanted to come. To my shock he looked he was seriously considering it for a minute. Garrett didn't too happy about that either.

And that torturous dinner was over. Carlisle had a car service take us all home. The minute we were alone in our apartment Edward turned around and said, "What was so goddamn important that you make dinner on time!"

I blanched at this reaction. I knew he was upset but it wasn't like I hadn't told him I was going to be late. "I'm sorry," I said, making it, "Jessica needed me to stay late."

"Dammit Bella – I needed you to be on time for once! Do you realized since you started this job you haven't been on time at all! You're the one complaining about money and you're staying later so we need Lisa more," Edward yelled.

"That's not fair Edward – you're -," I stopped what I was saying.

"I'm not working," he finished for me. He was very flushed and I wondered how much he before I had gotten there. I knew he had 3 more glasses during dinner.

"Well you're not," I said quietly.

"I'm trying," he spat, "What are you going to do if I get a project!"

"We'll cross that bridge if comes to that," I said quietly. We both knew that wasn't going to happen.

Edward just started at me and left the room. I stood there in my living room feeling awful and alone.

AN: Okay – so do you think that Bella should have waited for Jessica or was she right going to her boss? What about Edward's reaction – do you think that's fair?

Thanks for taking the time to read/review/favorite/follow this story. I'm sorry for the delays but my hospital is going to accreditation and it's kicking my butt.


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